It’s Time We Told The Truth.

Statement of apology

Developed in collaboration with Dr. Ron Daniels, President of NAARC.

It is important for people of European descent, white Americans, to acknowledge that we are collectively and individually the benefactors of a legacy rooted in the enslavement of Africans and the creation of the myth of white superiority that began long before we were born. We recognize that the free labor brutally extracted from Black bodies was the foundation for the commercial, industrial and financial revolutions that built the American Capitalist economy. 

While the wealth disproportionately accrued to the white elites, the jobs and economic opportunities generated by the system of chattel slavery trickled down to benefit whites of every class, even among those who had no direct relationship to this exploitative, oppressive and dehumanizing system; benefits, if ever so meager, that were passed on to future generations; benefits which the sons and daughters of Africa, who were the source of this wealth and benefits, could not pass on to by virtue of their condition of enforced servitude. A culture of white supremacy and white privilege emerged as a deeply ingrained thread in the fabric of American society to buttress enslavement and post-emancipation systems of servitude. 

We recognize that the living legacies of African enslavement in America are manifested today in the gross inequalities between whites and Blacks in wealth, health, education and an array of social welfare indicators. These realities are in direct contradiction to the promises of “The American Dream.”

We further recognize that we have and continue to benefit disproportionately from social and economic privileges and entitlements based on white-skin color that are the real-life consequences of 400 years of white supremacy.

Fully conscious that African Americans have endured over 400 years of gross mistreatment at the hands of the American government and the white American community, we promise to continuously do our part to confront and address this legacy by compelling our nation to be a more just and livable society for sisters and brothers in Black America. 

We clearly understand that no amount of money from white Americans or our government can ever fully compensate for the horrific, painful, and traumatic loss of freedom, life, liberties, rights, property, and opportunities stolen from African Americans over four centuries. Nevertheless, we can and must begin the process of restitution, repair and restoration by acknowledging the harm inflicted on African Americans and making amends.  

The time has come for white Americans of conscience and good will to step forward with courage and determination to fight the twin social cancers of white supremacy and white privilege. We must use our individual and collective resources to support reparatory justice proposals now. We recognize that the offering of reparations is a powerful act of reuniting with our own humanity and that acknowledging our benefit and complicity with the culture of white supremacy and white privilege is a crucial step in the reparatory justice process -- which will lead to restitution, repair and restoration in our communities and in our country.   

This necessary reckoning with the sins and crimes of the birth of this nation will be liberating for ourselves, and we hope will also be liberating for our African American sisters and brothers and contribute to the healing of our land. Accordingly, we fully commit to working within the white American community to tell the true story of enslavement, one of America’s “original sins,” and to repair the damage and harm inflicted by this horrendous crime against humanity.

On behalf of ourselves, and our ancestors who cannot do so, we formally apologize to our African American sisters and brothers and to their ancestors for 400 years of persistent pain and trauma. We are sincerely sorry. 

From this point on, we promise to do all that we can with our words and deeds to press towards a more perfect union and better life for the generations of Americans to come.

A Nationwide Movement

Looking for inspiration? White Americans from across the country are owning up to our collective history of anti-Black racism through the Fund for Reparations NOW! Check out the map below to see where our reparations supporters call home, & what they’re saying in your hometown!