Welcome to the Poet’s Bench by Craig 17X
Hello Readers and welcome once again to the Poet’s Bench. 
I was thinking about what I wanted this month’s theme to be
 (that’s one of the perks with being the editor of this journal)
 but it was really a no brainer. This summer I took a US Government 
class and for my final paper I wrote an 18 page essay on  Reparations 
for African Americans. Then, almost magically, I got some information 
on recent reparations discussions from our Food and Night life 
correspondent MeChelle LaChaux, specifically about some new talks 
around Representative John Conyers’ omnipresent bill HR40, 
"The Commission to Study Reparations Proposals for African
Conyers “is no Martin Luther King” and white leftist journalist 
David Lindorf was heard bawling about “the shame of John Conyers”. 
All three have articles which appeared on the July 24, 2007 version of the 
progressive website “Commondreams”. In addition, Cindy Sheehan, 
the neo-famous white anti-war mom, had herself arrested sitting in at Conyers office. 
These people all fail to realize that there has not been any large scale efforts to offer 
reparations to African Americans by the United States government since the last 
significant promise of reparations was offered when Abraham Lincoln promised "freed" 
Black slaves "40 acres and two mules".  Lincoln was killed shortly afterward and replaced 
by a Southerner who sympathized with those in favor of slavery. 
 
All too prevalent among white Americans is this mindset that comes from people like 
David Horowitz. Horowitz, himself a nationally known white author, 
lifelong “civil rights activist”, one of the founders of the New Left 
in the 1960s and the editor of its most influential magazine “Ramparts” 
wrote a treatise on reparations called "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for 
Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks - and Racist Too”.  But that’s the problem. 
How in the hell do white people suppose that they can even speak to what’s 
good for Blacks when it comes to racism and slavery no matter how apologetic 
they may seem to be about these issues? 
 
This is the thing about the white liberal mindset. It is at once paternalistic and 
at the same time suspiciously reeks of reaction formation. For how else could 
anyone who has done so much for the cause of civil rights wage arguments against 
remuneration for civil wrongs? It is the lingering effect of slavery which fuels the shame 
and denial associated with slavery. People seem to want to be absolved from the horrible 
atrocity of slavery and simply relegate it to the past. The fact is that even after the 
Emancipation Proclamation, slavery endured in the form of Jim Crow laws and the 
continued exploitation and subjugation of Blacks right up until 1965 and the Civil Rights Act. 
I was 13 years old at the time and I watched my father and my grandfather and what this nation 
did to them and me so I KNOW they owe me.      
 
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We can be reached by phone at 415. 655.9031 Or [email protected].  
The Poet’s Bench has been in existence since the summer of 2005.  
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Make a much needed donation of any amount to the address mentioned above.      
                                                                   ---- Craig 17X
 
 
 
 
 
Racism, John Conyers and Reparations: 
An Open Letter
The jaw-dropping attacks on Michigan Congressman John Conyers this week by members of the white,
 leftist sector of this nations antiwar movement have proven how deeply indeed racism exists. 
Conyers was picketed and attacked by leading activists and spokespeople of the anti-war movement because he, 
as chair of the House Judiciary Committee, determined that there did not exist enough votes to move to 
the floor of the House of Representatives a discussion of the impeachment of president George Bush 
for creating the war in Iraq.
Conyers has betrayed the American people,≈ bawled Global Exchange and Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin. 
Conyers is no Martin Luther King,≈ wailed former analyst of the CIA, Ray McGovern. 
Lefty journalist David Lindorf scribbled, The shame of John Conyers. All three articles appeared on 
the July 24 version of the progressive website Commondreams. 
In addition, Cindy Sheehan, anti-war mom, had herself arrested 
sitting in at Conyers office. 
Give us a break!
What does impeaching George Bush have to do with ending the war in Iraq? 
And what gives white, anti-war activists the right to call into question the moral 
and humanistic motivations of John Conyers because he determined the political 
will did not exist within Congress to impeach the president?
From our point of view (and speaking as progressive African-Americans) Conyers 
is the outstanding member of Congress, who has been most outspoken in support of 
the anti-war movement and against the Bush Administration.
But here is something else. Year after year, actually every year since 1989, 
John Conyers has introduced into congress H.R. 40, the African American Reparations Study Bill. 
It is a bill that is likely the lowest common denominator of the Black reparations movement in the 
U.S. To date Conyers has never had the votes to get it out of committee, onto the floor of the House. 
But each year he re-introduces the bill, constantly searching for more endorsers. 
He has never given up on this issue that is supported by the vast majority of African Americans. 
To the best of our knowledge neither Medea Benjamin, Ray McGovern, David Lindorf 
and certainly not Cindy Sheehan or few of the other leading lights of the white left in the 
anti-war movement (with the notable exception of Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich) 
have ever lifted a finger or raised their voice in support of African Americans cry for repair 
from the legacy of the Atlantic Slave Trade.  
But yet, how ironic that these normally progressive whites feel perfectly comfortable labeling 
John Conyers a betrayer of the American people. Here is another irony. If white Americans had
 voted against George Bush by half the percentage points that Black Americans voted against George Bush, 
Dubya would have never gotten near the White House. As for McGovern’s claim that Conyers is no 
Martin Luther King, we say, who is to say, if Martin Luther King were alive today, what he would or would not say? 
That is what J. Edgar Hoover tried to do to us with regards to the Black Panther Party as he went about 
planning the assassinations of various Party leaders. Also, Some white sectors of the anti-war movement need
 to re-focus themselves and try to build allies in the streets and in the halls of government to end the war, 
rather than engaging in mindless racism and alienating the most who is some white guy to tell us who is and 
who is not our leader or leaders progressive and anti-George Bush communities in America, namely Black America
                        
                                                             By Jean Damu and Alona Clifton ©08/2007 
 
 
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