CONTENTS:

Allentown Events on Reparations (Jan. 19-20, 2020)
– Related Resources

At the Jan. 20th Martin Luther King, Jr. event, Sheryll Cashin‘s presentation on made reference to Richard Rothstein‘s recent publications:

• The Neighborhoods We Will Not Share Persistent housing segregation lies at the root of many of our society’s problems. Trump wants to make it worse. (Richard Rothstein, NYTimes, Jan. 20, 2020)
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (video recording: June 8, 2017)
  Richard Rothstein discusses his book, “The Color of Law.” Ted Shaw of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law and Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) join Rothstein to discuss the history of state-sponsored residential segregation and its enduring effects.

There are also youtube videos with Sheryll Cashin on the topic of her first book:

• Place not Race: A New Vision of Opportunity in America (Oct. 16, 2014)
• Askwith Forum: The End of Race-Based College Admissions (Oct. 30, 2014)
  Sheryll Cashin with Richard Rothstein.

Editorial Commentary (Morning Call “Your View”)

• We should atone for ‘America’s original sin’ through reparations
  (Judith Lasker: Oct. 10, 2019)
• How indispensable was slavery to U.S. economic growth?
  (Anthony O’Brien, Sept. 14, 2019)
• Op-ed on slavery’s impact missed important question
  (Roger D. Simon, Sept. 21, 2019)
• Op-ed distorted impact of U.S. slavery beyond recognition
  (6 Lehigh University departments and 28 faculty, Oct. 4, 2019)

HR-40 Legislation

• H.R. 40 – “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act” – this legislation on reparations for slavery, would “establish a commission to study the consequences and impacts of slavery and make recommendations for reparations proposals.”
  On Juneteenth (African American Emancipation Day – June 19) in 2019, four hundred years after African slavery began in the American colonies, the U.S. House of Representatives held hearings on H.R. 40, during which writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and others outlined how slavery still impacts African-Americans today.
• Watch video of full hearing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQOnagBVo34

Other Resources

• At Historic Hearing, House Panel Explores Reparations
  (NY Times: June 19, 2019)
• “1619 Project” (New York Times magazine, Aug. 14, 2019)
• “Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North”,
  a documentary film by Katrina Browne.
• Katrina Browne interview with Amy Goodman
• America’s last slave ship could offer a case for reparations
  (AP, mcall.com, Oct. 9, 2019)
• Documentary film: “Wilmington on Fire“ about the Wilmington Massacre of 1898 which was a bloody attack on the African-American community by a heavily armed white mob with the support of the North Carolina Democratic Party – a violent overthrow of an existing government that left countless numbers of African-Americans dead and exiled from the city.
  (vimeo rental or DVD, 89min. at wilmingtononfire.com )
• The Case for Reparations, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (the Atlantic, June, 2014)
• Contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and racial intolerance, report to the United Nations General Assembly (Aug. 21, 2019).

Allentown Events on Reparations

• January 19, 2020 (Sunday, 6:00pm) “Traces of the Trade”
  A special screening of the feature documentary, “Traces of the Trade” which examines the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. Given the myth that the South is solely responsible for slavery, viewers may be surprised to learn that they were Northerners. Sponsored by the Lehigh Conference of Churches and First Presbyterian Church, Allentown.
  Location: First Presbyterian Church, Allentown. For details and [free] registration, see www.lehighchurches.org.
• January 20, 2020 (Monday, 9:00am) Interfaith Prayer Breakfast with Sheryll D. Cashin who will be speaking on “A Case for Reparations from the Faith Perspective.” Dr. Cashin is a Professor of Law, Civil Rights and Social Justice at the Georgetown University Law Center. Please join us for prayer, breakfast, and fellowship.
  Location: First Presbyterian Church, Allentown. Cost: $25. For details and registration, see www.lehighchurches.org.