Aug. 29 — “They stole us! They sold us! They owe us!” The chant carried through Fulton Park in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community of Brooklyn, New York, as 200 people came to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism. The rally was called by the December 12th Movement and supported by the National Black United Front along with other organizations.
It was one of many rallies held that day across the United States and around the world. Rallies were also called in Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Greenville, South Carolina, Kansas City, St. Louis, London, Johannesburg, Juba, Paris, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
From Aug. 31 to Sept. 8, 2001, thousands of people came to Durban, South Africa, to demand reparations for the African Holocaust. Among them was Fidel Castro, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution. Racism and xenophobia are not natural human instincts, Castro told the conference on Sept. 1, 2001. They are born directly from wars, military conquests, slavery and the exploitation of the weakest by the most powerful.
Tens of millions of Africans were kidnapped and murdered in the slave trade that launched the capitalist era, along with the genocide of Indigenous peoples in the Americas.
Karl Marx wrote, “Capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.” The African Holocaust has never stopped.
The Durban 400 were those who went to the UN conference to support the righteous demand for reparations. The United States walked out of the conference rather than recognize that right, taking Israel with it. Britain and the other big capitalist countries sought to sabotage it from inside.
This year the African Union pushed a new resolution through the UN General Assembly, declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement the gravest crime against humanity. It passed on March 25 with 123 countries voting in favor. The European countries abstained. Argentina, Israel and the United States voted against.
As the December 12th Movement wrote, “25 years ago, for the first time in history, the United Nations declared the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade a Crime Against Humanity. Crimes have criminals and they start with the U.S. government.”
The rally featured talks along with cultural performances by drummers and poets. Among those who spoke were the human rights attorney Roger Wareham of the December 12th Movement and Maxine Flowers of the National Black United Front. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and New York State Senator Jabari
Brisport demanded reparations.
December 12th chairperson Omowale Clay — who coined the slogan “They stole us! They sold us! They owe us! — urged people to organize. Reparations now!
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