Opinion

Opinion: Moral and Ethical Issues of Reparations

Published

7 years ago

August 2, 2019

Summarizing the familiar patterns of some white people’s responses to racial discomfort as White Fragility has resonated for many people that responded to last week’s column.

The sensibility is so familiar because whereas our personal narratives vary, we are all swimming in the same racial water.

Dr. Wade Nobles

Dr. Wade Nobles, an Oakland psychologist, uses fish as a metaphor of the slave trade in which Western man is depicted as a saltwater fish and Eastern man (Africans) is a freshwater fish that is captured and forced to swim in an alien saltwater culture. The fish can swim but the salt irritates their sensibilities and reddens their eyes.

The salty water represents W.A.S.P/Individualism.

However, African Americans and all nonwhite folks are fresh-water fish whose vision has been irritated by the salt because they have been forced to adapt.

The Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, testified at Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s committee at the same hearing as filmmaker and seminarian Katrina Browne in June.

Sutton addressed the theological, political and economic complexity and intersectionality of the morality of reparations.

Sutton said Americans should avoid quick emotional responses to the word ‘reparations,’ because it could divide us and create resentment and suspicion.

He said just the term reparations accentuates the pains of the inherited mess of slavery that has long plagued this country.

There was an ominous judgment day tone to his words when he said, “None of us caused this brokenness, but all of us have a moral responsibility to fix it.

Bishop Sutton

“For generations the bodies of Black people did not belong to themselves but were bred, used and sold for the purpose of attaining wealth. Our nation prospered from that evil, and many of our institutions- including, sadly, the church, profited as well.

Sutton told Congress that moral leaders must be committed to repairing our “broken foundation.”

The economic and theological questions intersect, and Browne lived in a house on the corner of Seminary Avenue and Ill-Gotten Gain$ Boulevard (pun intended).

While theologians debate the moral issues of right and wrong and while they rhetorically ask, “What must I do to be saved?” I will focus on the economic, political and legal issues of reparations as I have for the past 30 years.

As the great writer Victor Hugo said, “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” The reparations issue is “woke,” and the time has come to examine the founding documents down the streets of government from Ms. Browne’s childhood lemonade stand.

While the whole world watches, my city of Oakland is again in the vanguard of the fight for justice and equity with its newly formed Department of Race and Equity. That new department is under the supervision of the city administrator and the mayor with the limitations of the budget and finances.

Oaktown, the seat of the Alameda County government, is the cultural hub of several ethnic and racial groups that seek the review and removal of some of the past actions of government and private cultural entities…

Unlike the early debates over the definition of “Black Power” in 1966, which often excluded whites, the reparations debate is open to all Americans.

Reparations is a struggle for the “Soul” of our beloved nation.

It is ‘all-hands-on-deck’ time.

It’s ‘repair the ship of state’ time.

Its reform and discard institutions time.

Let us think nationally but act locally to examine our local governments to find the hidden obstacles.

Leo Bazile

Posts by Leo Bazile

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of February 11 = 17, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 11 – 17, 2026

Published

2 days ago

February 16, 2026

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post

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#NNPA BlackPress

COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

1 week ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

Oakland Post

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Activism

Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

1 week ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.