On August 21, 1987, Imari Obadele, president of Republic of New Afrika (RNA), at the urging of Dorothy Benton Lewis, leader of the Black Reparations Commission, issues a call to come to Washington, D.C. to discuss, among other things, development of a campaign for reparations.

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Five organizing meetings are held from September 1987 until April 1989. Vincent Godwin (now Kalonji Olusegun) chairs the meetings representing the convening organization, the Foreign Affairs Task Force of the RNA.

 

 

Reference:  Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A. Winbush, PhD 2003) at p. 211

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Virginia, five decades after ignoring Prince Edward County and other locales that shut down their public schools in support of segregation, is making a rare effort to confront its racist past, in effect apologizing and offering reparations in the form of scholarships. With a $1 million donation from the billionaire media investor John Kluge and a matching amount from the state, Virginia is providing up to $5,500 to any state resident who was denied a proper education when public schools shut down. So far, more than 80 students have been approved for the scholarships and the numbers are expected to rise. Several thousand are potentially eligible. “A New Hope For Dreams Suspended By Segregation,” The New York Times, July 31, 2005 by Michael Janofsky.