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Vol. 32, Issue 30 QUEENS/LONG ISLAND/BRONX/MANHATTAN July 23-29, 2021
SLAVERY
REDRESS
SOUGHT
CARICOM joins with Africa in
seeking reparations
By Bert Wilkinson
Clearly encouraged by the
positive global reaction to the
Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement,
Caribbean groups and
governments fighting to make
former European nations pay
reparations for the brutal trans
Atlantic slave trade this week
again demanded the commencement
of formal talks with
Europe, pointing to growing
awareness and activism in the
US, Africa and Latin America as
signs that some form of progress
is near.
But the region is also reacting
to circumstances and is
tweaking its tactics and strategies
as regional leaders recently
have decided to formally now
engage governments in Africa
to help bolster their already
strong case for nations including
Spain, Portugal, Britain,
The Netherlands, and France
to compensate the descendants
of enslaved Africans for what
critics say is among the worst
genocide in human history. Two
years ago, the CRC and governments
added Sweden, Switzerland,
Norway and Russia, contending
that recent research had
shown that they had also played
their own genocidal part in slavery
and would be included in
any lawsuits by the region in the
coming months.
Recently, CARICOM member
nation, Grenada, and Botswana
moved to form a reparations
advocacy group at the
United Nations to deal with the
issue. Already 68 countries have
signed on to the movement officials
said.
In a statement carried on the
website of the CARICOM Secretariat
this week, the umbrella
CARICOM Reparations Commission
(CRC) said it was “encouraged
by the progress being made
in the United States to bring the
HR40 bill to the floor of the US
House of Representatives for a
vote in the weeks ahead. The
CRC also notes the results of a
recent public poll conducted by
the Congressional Black Caucus,
which shows reparations
as the number one issue on the
minds of the African American
electorate.”
The HR 40 bill, piloted by
veteran Texas Democrat Sheila
Jackson Lee basically establish-
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., left, and Eric Adams, the Democratic candidate for mayor,
discuss a gun traffi cking bill, Monday, July 19, 2021, in New York. The Hadiya Pendleton
and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Traffi cking and Crime Prevention Act seeks to address
the illegal transfer of guns across state lines by establishing gun traffi cking as a federal
crime. Associated Press / Mark Lennihan
Gillibrand, Adams announce federal
gun trafficking legislation
By Nelson A. King
US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand,
joined by Brooklyn Borough
President, Eric Adams, stood
in front of Brooklyn Borough
Hall on Monday to announce
the Hadiya Pendleton and
Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking
& Crime Prevention
Act.
Named for two teenage girls
in Brooklyn and Chicago, IL,
the bill seeks to address the
illegal transfer of guns across
state lines by establishing gun
trafficking as a federal crime.
The measure would provide
law enforcement and prosecutors
with the tools to go
after those directly involved in
the illegal movement of guns
across state lines, gun dealers
acting illegally, individuals
who organize the gun trafficking
rings, and those who
conspire to traffic guns. Sen.
Gillibrand will be reintroducing
the bill this week.
According to the Bureau
of Justice Statistics, there
are more than 400, 000 gun
crimes committed resulting in
about 14,000 homicides each
year.
Estimates from the New
York Attorney General’s office
have found that in 9 out of 10
of these crimes in New York
City, where the gun has been
successfully traced, it originated
from out of state.
Despite the illegal movement
of guns across state
lines, there is currently no
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