LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – “In order to heal the wounds of the past, you have to acknowledge them first,” said Prince-Jerold Solace. The wounds of more than 400 years of slavery. The Justice League of Greater Lansing President Prince-Jerold Solace says reparations are the first step after acknowledging the past.
“Reparations addresses all the systemic issues surrounding lack of opportunity, lack of resources,” said Solace. “The goal is to build an endowment that endowment which serve as a reservoir that would help allocate reparations to the hundred thousand African Americans living in the greater Lansing region.”
With a faith-based approach, the non-profit works with predominantly white churches and help to facilitate reparations. They discuss how some churches suppressed black agencies and were complicit during slavery.
The Lansing Presbyterian Church made a $100,000 donation towards helping in areas like education, home ownership, scholarships and entrepreneurship.
“It’s what the church should be doing in this time, and the church has a unique opportunity to help change hearts and minds,” said Stanley Jenkins.
Stanley Jenkins is the pastor of the church and hopes their reparation makes a material difference but most importantly, normalize reparations in the community.
“This is not about waddling in guilt,” said Jenkins. “This is about joyfully acknowledging that things do not have to be this way, and that we could be agents of change. Not being naïve, it’s not magic, but we can begin shaping our environment.”
The non-profit will be allocating $50,000 toward scholarships starting in 2024. Grants for home ownership and entrepreneurship will follow.
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