Susan's Why

 

I grew up in a white suburb of Detroit. Motown provided the sound tracks of my high school years. 

 

I did not know any black people until I moved to California in the mid-70s to work in television.  It was hard to find a black face in a sea of white ones until the 90’s. I left the business just as news anchors and crews of different colors were arriving. The move ushered in the peak period of my working life.  

 

After the initial thrill of entering the humanitarian aid and development business, l saw pretty much every one of my sacred cows slaughtered. 

 

It was more satisfying to be an outlier working with small organizations based in Africa. I was the color of the minority colonizer but intent on disrupting the classist, male-dominated, ‘Global North’ approaches. I learned  humility and an appreciation of the absurd from my African colleagues and friends. 

 

Over time I understood something of the pain, horror, and grief that threads through the lives of black human beings.  An apology hardly covers the enormity of insults endured Living While Black. But I’m not looking to shoulder shame and guilt. I’m seeking the way to connect as human beings. We’re sure to be better that way. 

 

I want to see policies and actions that bring justice, a fair shot for everyone at the promise that could be America prosperity. Reparations are a way to achieve this. 

 

The very old financial debt to descendants of slaves is the responsibility of the United States government. Our purported representatives have been there every generation, never pressed to change policies though times of slavery, Jim Crow, Massacres, and Redlining. Now in the time of mass Incarceration and systemic ‘normalized’ discrimination, we have a duty to turn the tide. I want to help that process.  

 

The Invoice is how I contribute. How about you?