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A: Per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “reparation is the act of making amends for wrongdoing; something done or given as amends or satisfaction; the payment of damages.”
A: The ADOS Reparations claim refers to redress for the U.S. government-sanctioned institution of chattel slavery from 1776 – 1865 and the failure of the federal government to adequately protect the 4 million formerly enslaved persons and their progeny during the Reconstruction Era of 1866-1877. The chief act of negligence at this time was the revocation of material compensation (e.g., 40 acres). These people were trafficked to America, and their descendants were bred domestically. Though many stakeholders existed in the Trans-Atlantic and domestic slave trades, the federal government was ultimately culpable for allowing the inhumane institution to persist in the new nation. As such, the ADOS Advocacy Foundation advocates for reparations for the descendants of U.S. chattel slavery to be paid by the federal government for harms including but not limited to:
A: A lineage-based claim is the most precise and legally sound concept in pursuing ADOS Reparations. Just as certain unique genetic traits are passed down from ancestor to subsequent descendants, the unique economic disadvantage that the institution of U.S. chattel slavery established for our ancestors has been transmitted from generation to generation exclusively within our group. Our experience in America is inseparable from the event of slavery, its massive economic consequence, and its enduring legacy. And so, in our political project of repair, lineage—beginning with our ancestors who were first subject to chattel slavery’s plundering nature—is how we identify who bears the full measure of that cost.
A: A person must 1.) Be a citizen of the United States of America and have identified as Negro, Colored, Black, or African American throughout their life on government documentation; 2.) Present a government-issued ID, birth certificate, or census record identifying a direct ancestor as Negro, Colored, Black, or African American before 1965; and 3.) Trace their ancestry to at least one person that identified as Negro, Colored, Black, or who was an enslaved person in the United States between 1776 – 1865.
A: Remedies must encompass comprehensive financial, land, education, mental health services, and reparations protection programs. In addition, a new federal agency must be created to administer and oversee the program, including assisting participants with verifying their eligibility.
A: In 1990, Dr. David H. Swinton developed a formula for estimating the cost of slavery. One of the components of his formula is the “value of labor expropriated (EL).” Later, Dr. Thomas Craemer expounded on the EL metric with his wage-based estimation. In 2022, Craemer’s conservative 3% compound interest rate used to calculate the debt for unpaid slave wages was estimated to be $20 trillion. At the ADOS Advocacy Foundation, we advocate for the $20 trillion amount as a baseline to be distributed to eligible recipients.
A: Our aim at the ADOS Advocacy Foundation is to create a piece of federal legislation that can comprehensively satisfy our community’s needs. We view local reparations programs as a contradiction and very unlikely to achieve their stated purpose of compensating for the economic legacy of slavery. This is because states and localities confront enormous budgetary impediments concerning direct cash payments, the most symbolically and materially significant component of any repair initiative for past harms. Moreover, it seems that those states or localities that do pursue reparations programs for slavery and ongoing discrimination have focused their efforts exclusively on the latter set of harms, most often via programs that seek to redress victims of unjust housing policies that began in the latter half of the 20th century. In many cases, these offenses were not unique to ADOS. This potential for competing, identical claims to be filed by other groups is at odds with our purpose here at the ADOS Advocacy Foundation, which is to ensure that any reparations policy encompasses the fullness and singularity of our group’s victimization, which must involve the original harms suffered under the institution of chattel slavery.
In addition, Congress has introduced legislation (H.R. 4321) to prohibit the United States Government from providing bailouts or other financial assistance to any State or local government that enacts laws providing reparations for slavery. This bill is designed to prevent local governments from passing reparative initiatives. Even if policymakers believe local reparations to be just, supporting them would immeasurably impact their local economies and ability to govern.
A: We encourage advocates to become members of the ADOS Advocacy Foundation and wp-signup.php their local chapter. This way, one would have access to organizational resources that would aid them in garnering support from community members and local legislators in developing resolutions that support a federal reparations program.
Start of Slavery
Declaration of Independence
Emancipation Proclamation
Jim Crow - Mass Incarceration
The American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) Advocacy Foundation is a grassroots organization that arose in response to a national landscape rife with yawning racialized gaps. We invite all people from all backgrounds to join this just cause.