Demands for reparations could be heard from a group of Black organizers sporting orange shirts bearing the words “Reparations Now! We are far past 40 acres and a mule” as they marched down California Avenue toward the United Center, where the Democratic National Convention (DNC) is taking place this week.
“What do we want? Reparations! When do we want them? Now!” is the call-and-response chant from demonstrators on Wednesday morning.
Gregory Mann serves as the hype man of the action. Mann is the minister of organizing for the West Side-based nonprofit Equity and Transformation (EAT), which is led by formerly incarcerated people. The organization leads the “Keep it 1000 Campaign,” a demand for reparations for Black Americans during the third day of the DNC.
Mann guides participants from the group’s West Side Center to a spot near the United Center, specifically with the goal of commanding President Joe Biden to create a federal Reparations Commission before leaving office. According to the EAT’s news release, a federal commission “would develop proposals for how the U.S. government will deliver full reparations for Black Americans.” The action also is a call to push action on the H.R. 40 Bill, the “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act,” that has stalled in the House of Representatives for years.
The call is a continuation of others who have demanded the U.S. government repair the wrongs for not only chattel slavery but for discriminatory practices against Black people including redlining and mass incarceration. Early this summer, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed a new executive order which establishes a Reparations Task Force to create a Black reparations agenda in Chicago.
Getting to Wednesday’s march took lots of manpower. EAT began canvassing in February, knocking on people’s doors as they aimed to get at least 1,000 people out during the action, EAT founder Richard Wallace told The TRiiBE.
“We had to make 5,000 contacts in order to try to get a 1,000-person turnout. For the last four months, our members have been canvassing the West Side Community, educating people on the fact that the DNC was coming and what the DNC was,” Wallace said.