There is a heated debate about the study of reparations payments going on in Tennessee where a state Senate bill could ban the study of freebies for black folks.
The Senate version of the controversial bill, SB0429, which is set to be voted on this week, seeks to prohibit county or local governments from spending money related to reparations, the officially sanctioned theft of money from white people who have never been slaveholders to give to blacks who never suffered from human bondage.
One of the bill’s fiercest critics has circulated a petition in protest that has drawn hundreds of signatures and he claims that the debate isn’t about saving money but rather the preservation of the supposedly oppressive white power structure.
#CONGRATS EVERYBODY!!! Because of our efforts this bill has been delayed until MONDAY. We’re at 500 signatures and counting. WE NEED YOUR HELP TO KEEP PUSHING THIS!!! SIGN AND SHARE!!! Stay tuned!!!#STOP TENNESSEE FROM BANNING STUDY OF REPARATIONS – https://t.co/dlPl98pJPF — Rev. Earle J. Fisher, Ph.D. (@Pastor_Earle) April 4, 2024
“This is not about money. This is about ideology. This is about political power,” said Reverend Earle Fisher who pontificates from the pulpit at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis where he is the senior pastor.
“This is about people who are hell-bent on maintaining racial and economic inequities across the state and they are scared to death that the truth would come out. So, they don’t want anybody to study it,” Fisher told NewsNation.
The bill’s text reads: “AMENDMENT No. 1 rewrites this bill to prohibit a county, municipality, or metropolitan government from expending funds for the purposes of studying or disbursing reparations. As used in this amendment, ‘reparations’ means money or benefits provided to individuals who are the descendants of persons who were enslaved.”
(Video: YouTube/ABC24 Memphis)
The bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Brent Taylor, a Shelby County Republican, denies the legislation is about banning reparations studies, contending that such discussions should be taking place on a federal level and not with local governments.
“I will make very clear our vote today does not pass judgment on reparations. That is a very significant and very important issue for many people in our country, but it is an issue that belongs to the federal government and does not belong to our cities and counties and I think it’s inappropriate for our cities and counties tax dollars to go to such an issue,” Taylor said.
Black Residents Battle Against Tennessee GOP’s Effort to Ban Reparations https://t.co/TJBRBeiI56 — Rev. Earle J. Fisher, Ph.D. (@Pastor_Earle) April 7, 2024
“It’s a white nationalist [legislature] with a supermajority, and it’s not lost on me or anybody who has been doing political organizing over the last several years that this is indeed who they are,” Rev. Fisher told Capital B News. “When you are passing legislation to stop people from studying something, as a legislative body, it communicates that not only are you committed to injustice and inequity, but you are anti-truth.”
“Sometimes you fight in Congress, and if you can’t win in Congress, you got to fight in court. But in order to do any of that effectively, you got to organize in the community,” Fisher added. “At the end of the day, we have to look at some of these elected officials who are proposing these things — look at some of these races where some of the white nationalist congressmen could potentially be ousted and try to focus on that.”
