Economics

Rev. Williams Wants to Build a Movement for Reparations

Published

10 years ago

January 22, 2016

By Polly Seaberry

Rev. Henry C. Williams is pointing the way to reparations as a partial economic solution for African Americans. He wants to reach churchgoers, students, families and media outlets to generate interest in a people’s movement and campaign to persuade Congress and the White House to redeem the promises it made to the freed slaves and their descendants.

“Now is the time for African Americans to receive money, gold and land to rebuild our communities and broken families,” said Williams.

In his presentations to churches, he teaches about the pledge contained in the Emancipation Proclamation, which promised 40 acres and a mule for every slave, and the Freedmen’s Bank, which Congress formed to receive their deposits and to make loans.

Williams often begins with the biblical text from Jeremiah 5:1 “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.”

Rev. Williams says he is called a “Trailblazer for Justice” by other ministers because he wants Black people to take a stand for the money, land and gold owed to them by the government.

“We need restitution for the 400 years of slavery, abuse and broken promises,” Williams says.

“When Blacks search their ancestry and the Freedmen’s Bank records, they will find that our people deposited more than $57 million dollars after slavery from 1865 to 1868 and their deposits were then lent by Congress to white individuals who never paid it back,” said Williams.

“And those deposits are worth hundreds of billions of dollars after more than 150 years of accumulated compounded interest.”

Williams wants President Obama to fulfill President Lincoln’s proclamation.

William stated that some Native Americans received 3.9 Billion Dollars for 1 year of Reparation for the U.S. Soldiers killed them, took their land and destroyed a significant portion of their culture.

He also uses the biblical story of Zacchaeus, the wealthy tax collector, who told Jesus that he would repay the poor four times if he had cheated them, as a teaching tool to help make the case for the justification of a demand for Reparations.

When he preaches about his own family he talks about his Father Pleasant Williams, his Grandparents. His grandmother worked as a Nanny for The Confederate Army.

“Just as the Japanese Americans received reparations for their forced resettlement during WWII and the Alaskans were paid for the installation of the pipeline, African Americans must also be compensated,” said Williams. To contact Williams call (510) 507-3424 or email bishophenrycwilliams@gmail.com

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of February 11 = 17, 2026

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

Published

10 hours ago

February 16, 2026

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Business

California Launches Study on Mileage Tax to Potentially Replace Gas Tax as Republicans Push Back

Under current law, California depends heavily on revenue from the gas tax to fund roads, highways, and infrastructure, but those revenues are projected to shrink as electric vehicle use grows and overall gasoline consumption drops. The mileage study would look at a “road charge” system where drivers pay based on how many miles they drive, rather than how much gas they buy.

Published

6 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City is the author of AB 1421. File photo.

By Tanu Henry, California Black Media

California lawmakers are moving forward with a study to explore a mileage-based tax as a potential replacement for the state’s traditional gas tax — a shift supporters say is driven by declining fuel tax revenues as more drivers switch to fuel-efficient and electric vehicles.

The research, tied to Assembly Bill (AB) 1421, would extend and support work by the state’s Road Usage Charge Technical Advisory Committee through 2035.

The bill does not yet enact a new tax. Instead, it extends the study and advisory work until 2035 and would have the Legislature receive findings and recommendations, with a report due by Jan. 1, 2027.

Republicans in the California Legislature have been vocal in their opposition. Assembly Republican Leader Heath Flora criticized the proposal.

“We already pay the highest gas taxes in the nation. Now Sacramento is talking about adding a new tax for every mile people drive,” Flora said. “Piling on another tax right now shows just how out of touch politicians in Sacramento are with the reality working families face.”

The plan has drawn broader GOP criticism from leaders outside the Legislature as well. California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton called a mileage fee “absolutely outrageous” and said, if elected, he would veto the tax, adding that tracking and charging drivers for every mile is unacceptable.

Supporters say the study is a pragmatic response to long-term funding challenges.

On the Assembly Floor on Jan. 29, Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D–Suisun City), the bill’s author, said that California’s transportation funding is “becoming less stable, less equitable, and less sustainable as more drivers switch to fuel-efficient and zero-emission vehicles.”

“Drivers using the same roads often pay different amounts for that use,” Wilson continued. “Low income and rural commuters who must drive farther and less efficient vehicles can pay more while others contribute less despite roadway impacts.”

Wilson and other supporters contend that a per-mile road charge could ensure that all drivers contribute fairly to the costs of maintaining roads, regardless of the type of vehicle they drive.