Reparations Back on the Table for Discussion

Reparations once again is the topic of discussion by community
leaders. From left: the Rev. Dr. Kevin C. Peterson (kneeling),
Dr. Carnita Atwater, Tonae Williams, the Rev. Dr. Earle J.
Fisher, Dr. Malcom J. Bryant, and Karen Spencer-McGhee.
(Photo by Wiley Henry)

MEMPHIS, TN – Reparations has been debated and bandied around Congress for more than 35 years after the late U.S. Congressman John Conyers first introduced H.R. 40 (Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act).

Originally introduced in 1989 as H.R. 3745, Conyers continued to re-introduce legislation during each congressional session until his death in 2019. Each time, the case for reparations failed to gain any traction in the Halls of Congress other than study bills and an apology for slavery and Jim Crow laws.

“We are the only people on American soil who were lynched, stolen, raped, killed, our religion taken away from us, and our family broken up,” said Dr. Carnita Atwater, a former gubernatorial candidate. “We are the only people who haven’t gotten reparations.”

Atwater called out specific groups who received some form of federal reparations: the Jews, Japanese Americans, Native Americans, she said, but not African Americans who have yet to be compensated.

On Thursday (Oct. 22), Atwater hosted a community conversation on reparations and premiered a documentary titled “Reparations Untold: An American Story” by the Rev. Dr. Kevin C. Peterson of Boston at Atwater’s Kukutana African American History Museum in North Memphis. 

Peterson, who wrote and produced the film, is the founder of “Faneuil Hall Race + Reconciliation Project.” He began his work on reparations in Boston, where he graduated in 2024 from the Boston University School of Theology.

In addition to the film, Peterson, the Rev. Dr. Earle J. Fisher, senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis, and Dr. Malcolm J. Bryant, a retired educator from Memphis who taught at the University of Massachusetts and Boston’s public schools, co-hosted the “community conversation” with Atwater. 

In 2020, Atwater filed a $20 billion class action lawsuit in Chancery Court in Memphis, charging government officials with “genocide and generational neglect, gentrification and displacement, environmental injustice and disparities.” 

On Peterson’s “Reparations Nation: The Podcast” recently, Atwater reiterated her views on reparations and her unyielding fight to see it come to past. She has been one of the leaders in Memphis pushing for reparations and believes that solidarity among African Americans is the key to repairing more than 400 years of damage. 

“Until we come together, we are going to die and not receive reparations,” Atwater said.

Peterson is also seeking redress for damages and a pathway to reparations. He calls it a fight for reparative justice in America. “Reparations are not new, they’re due,” said Peterson, also an author, civic leader, coach, and consultant. 

He hopes to move the conversation “from awareness to action” and moderated a panel discussion featuring community activist Karen Spencer-McGhee, Bryant, Fisher, 11-year-old Tonae Williams, and Atwater as well.

To some people, reparations mean receiving payment in U.S. currency or land acquisition. Bryant, however, equates reparations with acquiring political power. “We need political power in North America right now,” he said.

Atwater sought out Jonae from the audience and beckoned her to sit on the panel. She wanted to hear a child’s perspective on reparations. But Tonae, the granddaughter of author Patricia Lee, was a little shy. 

The concept of reparations seemed too difficult for the 11-year-old to grasp. But Fisher was at Tonae’s side giving her monetary examples to help her understand what it means when something is taken away and restored.

“How would you feel if you had $125 dollars and I take it?” Fisher asked Tonae. “If I gave it back to you would you be satisfied?”

Tonae muttered the answer to Fisher’s question. “No. I’ll be mad,” she said. 

“She understands,” Fisher said.

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Meeting to Discuss a Third Political Party Draws Scant Support for Now

Dr. Carnita Atwater tries to drum up support for a third political party
that she's calling The People's Party. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

MEMPHIS, TN – Candidates vying for the office of Memphis mayor, city court clerk and all 13 city council districts will stump for votes leading up to the Memphis Municipal Election on Oct. 5.

Dr. Carnita Atwater, however, is miffed with the election process and the two-party system. On March 5, she organized a “political consortium” at The Kukutanna African American History and Cultural Museum in North Memphis to discuss “the root issues of our democracy.”

Much to Atwater’s chagrin, the consortium drew a sparse crowd of 30 people to the first public meeting to discuss the mechanics of legitimizing a third political party that she’s temporarily calling “The People’s Party.” 

“I invited whites, Blacks, Jews and Hispanics. Why didn’t they come?” Atwater asked those in attendance listening intently as she expounded on the need to introduce a third party.

“My own political party did not embrace me when I ran for governor,” said Atwater, who loss the Democratic primary last year. “I learned that we have a problem in our political party. So, we have to write our own narrative.”

Atwater said the idea of launching a new political party was birthed a year ago with at least 25 founding members that she would not name. She’s keeping the names a secret for now.

Because The People’s Party is still in its infancy stage, Atwater urged anyone who is disenchanted with the two-party system to help her build the organization. She plans to have it up and running nationally within six months. 

“If you’re tired of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the Libertarian Party, or the Green Party, come on,” she beckoned. “We’re going to embrace you. We’re going to be a political party with integrity.”

The party will also be identified by its mascot – a rooster. “Roosters are the forgotten animals, like the poor people, the LGBTQ people, the transgender people,” Atwater said. “They have thrown these people away.”

Atwater said no one political party should dictate who is important. “Our party will invest in every citizen,” she said, and stressed that PAC (Political Action Committee) money will not be accepted. 

Dorothy Cooper commended Atwater on implementing an “excellent idea.” 

“It’s outstanding – the layout. But it’s a lot of work,” said Cooper, president of the NAACP in Crittenden County, Ark., and the former mayor of Turrell, a city in Arkansas, also in Crittenden County.

“I’ve always loved a challenge,” Atwater replied.

In her take on the emergence of a new political party, Reasal Catron said accountability is very important to her. “Your word is your bond,” she added. “Politicians need to be accountable.”

A prophetess and advocate for domestic violence victims and inmates that she opines are unfairly treated in the penal system, Catron said she’s not seeing the work from politicians. 

“Don’t tell me about what you’ve done, tell me what you’re doing now,” she said.

Catron is simply disillusioned with politicians and reluctant to vote for them unless they earn her vote.

“If someone wants me to come out of my house and wants me to vote for them, I want to see change,” she said. “We need representation all over.”

Atwater said if people believe in the message espoused by politicians, “they will vote for you.” 

She pointed to the more than 56,000 votes that she amassed in the gubernatorial primary as proof that her message about homelessness, poverty, and economic disparities resonated with voters.

Ann Yates added: “People will vote if they feel like they belong.”

A longtime business owner, Yates said the two parties have forgotten about people. “They don’t go into the neighborhoods and talk to people,” she said.

Atwater said “the people” will select the candidate instead of the party. 

She loathed the number of candidates who joined this year’s Memphis mayoral race as an example that too many contenders can thwart opportunities for the best candidate to win. 

“There should be a consensus candidate,” she said.

Atwater Plans White House Run After Failed Governor’s Race

 

Dr. Carnita Atwater

MEMPHIS, TN – Securing the Democratic nomination for governor of Tennessee was a long shot for Dr. Carnita Atwater. But to her surprise, she amassed 56,061 votes in the Aug. 4 gubernatorial primary.

Her vote count was impressive but not enough to overtake Memphis City Councilman J.B. Smiley’s 99,753 votes and Nashville’s Dr. Jason Martin’s 101,221 votes. Martin, the Democratic nominee, will face Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Nov. 8 in the general election.

The loss, however, fueled Atwater’s desire to step back into the political arena. On Aug. 5, a day after the election, Atwater formally announced her intentions via Facebook live to run for president of the United States in 2024.

Declaring herself to be nonpolitical, Atwater said she’ll be ready the next go-round and run a more aggressive campaign for president with signage and boots on the ground. She said she’ll start with the 56,061 votes she netted from the governor’s race.

Her platform for president will likely be the same as her platform for governor. “I ran (for governor) to place people back into politics,” she said, in addition to “standing up against political and judicial corruption.”

“I talked about homelessness, poverty, economic disparities, disinvestment, poor, underserved and marginalized neighborhoods, mass incarcerations, abusive tax incentives to large corporations, and environmental injustice,” she said.

Mounting a national campaign can be a daunting undertaking for lesser-known aspirants – and well-known politicians as well – seeking the highest office in the land. It’s an even longer shot for national office seekers.

Undeterred by such stats, Atwater believes she’s ready for what could be a grueling campaign. In the governor’s race, she took pride in being the first to declare her candidacy and “the first African-American woman” to run. 

“It was a miracle,” said Atwater, considering she ran a grassroots campaign with very little media exposure and no paraphernalia, such as yard signs and mailers. She didn’t fundraise, either.

“I didn’t ask people for money because of the pandemic,” Atwater said. However, she spent a modicum of $4,000 that she’d set aside in her failed bid to best Smiley and Martin for the opportunity to take on Gov. Lee.

Running a grassroots operation – which, of course, was her choice – Atwater campaigned in five of Tennessee’s 95 counties. Nevertheless, she is grateful for the cache of votes that she hauled in. 

“It wasn’t about winning or losing to me. I wanted to shine a light on the issues, and I put that out there,” said Atwater, and pointed out that she also plans to be the first African-American woman from the state of Tennessee to run for president.”

Perhaps she is trying to fulfill a promise that she made to her father long ago. At the age of seven, she recalls, he asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up. 

“I told him I wanted to be the president of the United States.” 

Atwater recalls sharing her same lofty goal with one of her grade-school teachers, who was white, and was told, “eyeball-to-eyeball,” that she will never be the president of the United States. 

The teacher said, Atwater continued, “You will never be fitting to be anything but, maybe, a teacher or a nurse.”

Atwater has no regrets running for governor and said she’ll continue to stand up for people – even if she’s fortunate to “break the glass ceiling” in pursuit of the White House.

“If I never win a race, I’m going to fight for the people regardless,” Atwater said. “I believe in ‘we the people,’ not we the politicians.” 

Atwater is a longtime advocate for various causes in Memphis and a philanthropist who has fed and clothed the poor and disadvantaged. 

She is a former schoolteacher as well and owner of the Kukutana African American History and Cultural Museum at 1036 Firestone Ave. in North Memphis.