WASHINGTON – Malik Shabazz, former chairman of the New Black Panther Party and president of Black Lawyers for Justice, called on President Trump to provide reparations for slavery or designate territory solely for African-Americans.
“We must have reparations, full compensation for the theft of our land, the theft of our bodies, the theft of our people from Africa, the theft of our dignity; the desecration of our souls decade after decade after decade after decade. As I said, we don’t want your food stamps. We don’t want no government handout. We don’t want to be trying to fix up some paperwork so I can get Social Security. We want our own. Donald Trump, you don’t want us? You don’t want to be around us? Hot dammit, I don’t want to be around you,” Shabazz said during a “Save Our Sons: Stop the Killing” and “Condemn Donald Trump” National Black Men’s Convention march and rally outside of the White House on Saturday organized by the National Black Men’s Movement.
“We want land. We want our own. You don’t like us, Mr. Trump? Break us off some of this territory. You don’t like us, Mr. Trump? You don’t want to be around us? Then hand over the state of Florida,” he added. “You don’t want to be around us – make a trade. Give me Georgia. Give me Alabama. Give me South Carolina.”
Speakers at the National Black Men’s Movement events included representatives from the New Black Panther Party and other organizations such as city-level Black Lives Matter groups and the National Action Network.
Shabazz, who organized the rally, slammed Trump for calling an NFL player who kneels during the national anthem a “son of a bitch.”
“If you’re a son of a bitch, as Donald Trump says, who is your mama? Where I come from, you talk about my mama that’s some fighting words. Where I come from, a man don’t let nobody talk about his mama like that; he’s ready to throw down. Where is your toughness, black man? Where is your hard-nosedness, black man? Where is your anger, black man? Where is your militancy, black man? Donald Trump says black men are sons of bitches and thereby he calls, pardon me, but I have to say it, he calls the black woman a bitch as well,” he said to chants of “Black Power” from the crowd. “The black woman is the mother of all living things on the planet… Your women didn’t take care of your babies. It was black women on the plantation that took care of your little nasty babies.”
Shabazz continued, “Donald Trump, the black man is not a son of a bitch. He is the original man. He’s the maker. He’s the owner. He’s the cream of the planet Earth, father of civilization and he’s the God of the universe. He is your father, cracker. Donald Trump, I’m your daddy. I’m your daddy and you’re a child that’s out of line. This is a child in the White House throwing a temper tantrum every five minutes – what kind of fool is this, unable to control his emotions?”
John Cheeks, head of the United States Citizens Recovery Initiative Alliance, also called for reparations or “recovery benefits for black Americans.”
“We need our unpaid due. We need it now. We cannot live in this country without money. How many can live without money? Raise your hand. I thought so. We have a president who’s in the house that our ancestors built for free. We have a congressional seat who is at the Capitol that our ancestors built for free,” he said.
“We have the senators at that Capitol who enjoy the dome for free. It is time for all industries, all institutions, all associations and yes, we have public utility companies who have benefitted from slavery, such as your water company and your gas company,” he added. “How do you think water was purified? Who did it? How do you think the gas lines were buried in the street? Who do you think did it?”
Cheeks said African-Americans should attach a note to their utility bill payments that reads, “My ancestors are still looking for their unpaid wages.”
Dr. Cornel West, who described himself as a “revolutionary Christian,” explained why he decided to join the rally and spend time with the New Black Panther Party.
“This is very important because we need to be able to come together across political, ideological and religious lines. People ask me all the time, why is it that you spend time with the New Black Panther Party, with brother [chairman] Hashim [Nzinga]?” West said at the rally. “Why do you spend time with brother Malik Shabazz? I say, ya’ll don’t understand that when you’re a love warrior you love black folk in all the different forms and all the different embodiment. Why? Because I am who I am because somebody loved me, beginning with my mama and my father.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center designates the New Black Panther Party as a hate group, calling it “a virulently racist and anti-Semitic organization whose leaders have encouraged violence against whites, Jews and law enforcement officers.”
Arthur Reed, a community activist from Baton Rouge, urged the crowd not to “sit back” while police kill innocent African-Americans such as Alton Sterling.
“Sometimes the only thing that this man understands is hand-to-hand combat and we cannot continue to sit back and play the coward role and pray for a better day, dammit,” Reed said at the rally. “We’re going to make it a better day because a better day has already come with what you see before you.”
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