Bob Brown’s Research and Reparations

Those of us who work deeply in the Pan African Movement worldwide are keenly aware of the monumental contributions Brother Bob has made as an organizer and researcher for over forty years “in the student, human rights, Black Power, National Liberation, Pan African, and Peace Movements.”

Once again, through his research, Brother Bob has opened up new territory and possibilities for the varying strategies and tactics in the African Reparations Movement throughout the world.

As Co-Director of Pan African Roots, Brother Bob stated that Pan African Roots “convened this encounter with history and the future in order to directly, militantly and uncompromisingly challenge and correct at least two myths” in the research presented in his book, Slavery And The Slave Trade Were And Are Crimes Against Humanity!

Unraveling these two myths continues to be the challenge of the Reparations Movement as we strive to enhance legal strategies, legislative strategies, and mass mobilization strategies. The research of Bob Brown over the last several years will aid the Reparations Movement in unraveling these myths.

In this regard, Brother Bob revealed that Pan African Roots was requesting from the United States Government, through the Freedom of Information Act, “access to and/or copies of any and all records, including e-mails, electronic records, and computer-generated records, created and / or obtained by, or under the control of the United States Government that relate to, and / or contain information about, its role operations, and activities in facilitating and/or combating piracy and privateering, slavery, and the slave trade, especially the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, which are and were a crime against humanity.”

At the United Nations World Conference Against Racism that was held in Durban, South Africa from August 31 to September 7, 2001, we participated in the Durban 400, a delegation made up of Africans in America activists and organizations that worked with African Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) and African Governments that helped shape a significant outcome of the conference in declaring through the Final Declaration and Programme of Action the following:

The Reparations Movement celebrated the victory of this language being included in the Durban Declaration, particularly since the United States, and its western allies, fought so hard against its inclusion in the final document. You may recall that the United States was so upset they called a press conference and announced their withdrawal from the conference.

Little did we know at the time what Brother Bob’s research now reveals. Slavery and the slave trade, as far back as 1831, had been declared crimes against humanity. William Lloyd Garrison was the first person to declare slavery a crime against humanity in the inaugural edition of his Liberator Newspaper. On November 12, 1849, the Vermont Legislature passed a joint resolution declaring slavery and the slave trade a crime against humanity.

And the irony of all this, as revealed by Brother Bob’s research, is that in 1860, the “Republican Party National Platform resolved that slavery and the slave trade were crimes against humanity.”

As Bob stated, “We are confident that the records requested by and through the FOIA Request will prove, once and for all, that piracy, slavery and the slave trade, including the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, are and were illegal and prohibited, are and were recognized as a crime against humanity…”

We must thank Bob for his dedication, commitment, and creativity in helping to move the Reparations Movement to another level with his research.