Justice League of Greater Lansing recognizes Reparations Monday

Move over Cyber Monday. A newly designated day on the Monday after Thanksgiving promotes giving to Black-led organizations focused on reparations for African Americans. It is Reparations Monday.

An advocate of Reparations Monday in mid-Michigan is the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan. The not-for-profit is addressing the racial wealth gap between Black and white people. More than $350,000 has been raised for an endowed reparations fund to support education, home ownership and entrepreneurship via scholarships and grants.

“Reparations Monday aims the spotlight on Black-led reparations groups working for justice and healing for the centuries of human rights violations,” said Willye Bryan, founder, Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan. “When we succeed, the entire community benefits. We’re one step closer to what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. termed the 'Beloved Community' — a place where we all share equally and proudly the fruits of our collective labor.

“We invite the public to learn about and support our journey to justice. We want to build a more equitable future – to heal together and repair the breach in our community.”

Online giving to the Justice League can be done at www.JusticeLeagueGLM.org.

The group that dedicated Reparations Monday was Movement for Black Lives, an umbrella nonprofit for 50 organizations. The national entity works for advancements in areas that affect Black people by hosting conversations and creating a shared movement-wide strategy.

Bryan continued, “Some may ask why Giving Tuesday — the Tuesday after Thanksgiving — doesn’t work for reparations giving. While Giving Tuesday has become a national day for moving funds towards nonprofits, it supports an already unequal system of organizations with primarily large promotion budgets and led by primarily white people. Reparations Monday addresses that.”

Bryan identified the many gross human rights violations against Black people that have prevented them from accumulating generational wealth. They stem from chattel slavery and its aftermath: genocide, hate crimes, land theft, incarceration and police violence, among many others, as well as the collective complicity in the misbelief of white supremacy for centuries.

During 2023, the Justice League also addressed the first step in the journey of reparations: acknowledgment of the wrongs of slavery. It organized three events where white congregants apologized to descendants of enslaved African Americans for the sin of slavery and complicity in the misbelief of white supremacy. One was in front of the state capitol on Juneteenth.

More information about the League is at www.JusticeLeagueGLM.org. In early 2024 educational scholarships for descendants of enslaved African Americans in Greater Lansing will be announced. Grants for home ownership and entrepreneurship will follow.

About Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan

The 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization was founded in 2021 to repair the breach in Greater Lansing caused by the nation’s historical damage of slavery. Reparations are in the spirit of repentance for the sin of slavery, its aftermath of gross human rights violations — including genocide, white supremacist violence, land theft, incarceration and police violence — and complicity in the misbelief of white supremacy.

The solution is a faith-based model of reparations. The Justice League builds relationships and facilitates reparations between houses of worship and collaborative partners to close the racial wealth gap that exists between Black and white residents. This specifically means increasing wealth equity for descendants of enslaved African Americans. Financial reparations will support home ownership, education and entrepreneurship. More information is at www.JusticeLeagueGLM.org.