Dear Friend --

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.

—Frederick Douglass, 1852

Douglass’ argument was unassailable in 1852 and, even long after the Emancipation Proclamation and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, white supremacy and structural racism still undeniably inflict “gross injustice and cruelty” against Black people. And no reparations were ever paid for the hundreds of years of chattel slavery, the impacts of which are still felt by Black communities today.

That is why I am asking you to mark this 4th of July weekend by signing and sharing our petition demanding your representatives in Congress co-sponsor and pass HR 40 to establish a commission to study and develop reparations proposals for Americans whose ancestors were enslaved in the United States.

HR 40 has been introduced in every congressional session since 1989. Passing this rudimentary — yet necessary — bill for a commission to seriously evaluate a plan for material reparations is long overdue. We’ve had our fill of symbolic “victories” and “conversations” about race. It is time for action.

This petition is a product of the Reparations Working Group within the Green Party’s National Black Caucus. Help support our work to see through the passage of HR 40 — and every future step on the journey toward reparations — by donating to the Black Caucus today.

Langston Hughes wrote “America was never America” for countless Black and Brown people. But, through your action this 4th of July, we can take a step toward Hughes’ vision to “let America be America” by addressing historic injustice and ongoing oppression.

Sign and share the petition. Spread the word. Support the organizing efforts of the Black Caucus. This country desperately needs a strong party that rejects white supremacy and the corporate contributions corrupting elected officials.

In Solidarity,
Trahern Crews
Green Party National Co-Chair
Co-Chair, Green Party National Black Caucus