The United States’ engagement in the Middle East got a reprieve from the headlines a few weekly ago when Ghana, a United Nations member since 1957, spearheaded a landmark resolution proclaiming that the transatlantic slave trade was “the greatest crime against humanity.”
Formally titled “Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialized Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity,” the resolution passed with 123 votes in favor and 52 abstaining. Perhaps most notably were the member nations that voted against it, which were Argentina, Israel, and the United States.
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, who championed the resolution, has previously been a proponent of recognizing the damage inflicted upon the African continent by European colonialists.
This latest declaration last month at the U.N. headquarters in New York City opened international discourse on a topic that that has long marinated within the psyche of the American conscientiousness.
“Today, we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice,” Mahama stated before the assembly.
Here in the U.S., the quest for reparations has made headway in California through the efforts of the California Reparations Task Force, helmed by Los Angeles’ locally born and bred Kamilah V. Moore. An attorney of sterling pedigree, she earned her legal credentials at UCLA, and Columbia Law School. In addition, she gained supplemental knowledge in the intricacies of international law at the University of Amsterdam Law School where she focused on justice for People of African descent, impacted by the slave trade.
Her response to the resolution is largely positive. “Ghana’s leadership in securing Resolution A/80/L.48 is a historic and necessary step. For the first time, the international community has unequivocally declared the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity, not what it ‘should have been,’ but what it is.”
In her pursuit of reparations, she made the acquaintance of a comrade-in-arms, one Khansa Jones-Muhammad, a jack of all trades better known as Friday Jones, more formally the Vice President of the Los Angeles Reparations Advisory Commission. Polar opposites from the east and west coasts, the residents of Bedford–Stuyvesant (Bed–Stuy) and L.A.’s Leimert Park respectively, became kindred spirits in the pursuit of a common goal.
Jones’ heritage of activism was rooted in a childhood pursuing her genealogical roots. Her lineage goes back to her Great Grandma “Trasie,” an import from the Bamileke tribe of what is now Cameroon, circa 1799. This knowledge prompted her to write an open letter to then President Barack Obama, chastising him for a diplomatic choice in the country of Libya, resulting in a resumption of slavery in the 21st century.
Never one to bite her tongue, she gave Our Weekly a chilling critique of reparations in it’s latest iteration.
“Reparations, redress, thoughtfully done by people driven action is the only cure to energy that has been allowed to run its course to the detriment of humanity,” she states matter of factually, reasoning that reparations are necessary to put the nation on an even keel, economically and morally in light of the deficiencies exhibited by recent executive performances.
Curiously, she expresses little satisfaction with both conservative and liberal office holders.
“I do not think Newsom and Trump are polar opposites. I think Newsom’s actions in the state of California make him more performative than President Trump.”
Going on, she reasons Newsom is the more politically expedient of the two, exhibiting no real commitment to the issues, besides the possibilities of them impacting his chances for future victories in coming elections.
Perhaps most distressing is her reaction to John Dramani Mahama’s resolution at the U.N. Jones laments his omission of the little-known fact that African royalty, including those within the boundaries of Ghana, were complicit in the execution of the slave trade from it’s inception to it’s very ending. When asked point blank if she meant that contemporary fortunes enjoyed those at the top in the Motherland of this millennium, were established on the misery of their brethren on the middle passage, she said “yes.”
To date, there are dozens of organizations nationwide committed to the struggle, with predictable infighting common for an enterprise of this size. Among them are the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), and the National Assembly of American-Slavery Descendants (NAASD), which Jones currently presides over.
“My charge to the UN now is simple: make sure the people most harmed by this crime are co-designers of what repair actually looks like,” Moore says.
Most important in the process is the identification of entities that benefited from slavery in the past, so as to compel them to redress these damages. Those who do not will be prohibited from lucrative business ventures with the American government in the future.
Jones’ opinions maybe accessed at her website titled “The Real Friday Jones (https://www.therealfridayjones.com/#).”
Moore closes with the following.
“Descendants of the transatlantic slave trade across the diaspora must have a genuine seat at the table where reparative frameworks are built. We welcome this resolution, and we will be watching closely to ensure the structures that follow reflect the lived expertise of the communities this work is meant to serve.”
Moore’s legal practice spans the dual disciplines of entertainment law and human rights advocacy, and she is currently on staff at the firm of noted lawyer Ben Crump (https://bencrump.com/about/attorneys/kamilah-victoria-moore/).moore/).