Brown Hope Monthly Reparations Power Hour

Reparations Power Hour is a monthly program of local nonprofit, Brown Hope, and is an intentional space for Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.

We created this FAQ page to address common questions about our event: brownhope.org/reparations-faq

The idea is simple:

1. Show up! Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, this event is specifically for you.

2. Be nourished! Food and drinks will be provided by Brown Hope and the business sponsor.

3. Get ten! Receive $10 in cash as reparations**, paid for in part by white folks.

4. Build power! Every Power Hour will feature a 45 minute discussion about a local and relevant policy topic for us to collectively to weigh in on.

This event is for white people, too. (But don’t show up physically! Instructions are below.)

White people can show up and support by GIVING reparations. Instead of physically attending, your presence will be felt through your active financial support for healing, leadership, and community building within Portland’s black, brown, and indigenous community.

$10 will support reparations for one community member, and you are strongly encouraged to donate for more than one participant. Monthly donations are very much needed to sustain the Reparations Happy Hours and the programs of Brown Hope. You can make a one-time donation or recurring contributions here: donorbox.org/brownhope.

**You do not have to attend the entire two hour event to receive reparations. Able-bodied participants are required to be physically present to receive their $10. If there are accessibility concerns that impact your ability to be physically present, please email brownhopeusa@gmail.com and we will work with you to ensure your eligibility for reparations.

About Brown Hope:

Mission

We lead community-grounded initiatives to make justice a lived experience for black, brown, and indigenous people in Oregon.

Vision

We envision a future where the truth about this nation’s long history of injustice is self-evident. We envision the survivors of this injustice taking the lead on change. We envision love as a lived, and collective, experience.

For more information, visit: brownhope.org

Why Reparations Happy Hours?

When people think about reparations, they immediately think about people who've been dead for 100 years.

- Ta-Nehisi Coates

In 2016, the United Nations' Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, which includes leading human rights lawyers from around the world, presented its case in support of reparations. "In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent," the report stated. "Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching."

Even with the recognition of historic harms based on reparations, U.S. political support for reparations is extremely lacked. In PBS article titled “Millennials may eventually shift public opinion on slavery reparations,” the agency released Marist Poll which stated: 68 percent of Americans say that reparations should not be paid to descendants of slaves, according to the poll. Among the races polled, 81 percent of white Americans said no to reparations for slave descendants, the highest number among all races. However, support among Millenials is around 40%, showing increased support over time.

Every year since 1989, the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act has been submitted to the US Congress, which calls for comprehensive research into the nature and financial impact of African enslavement as well as the ills inflicted on black people during the Jim Crow era. Every year, the bill fails.