Reparations for Michelle Johnson, with love.

Hello Beloved people,

We have a shared mutual interest: for Black people to live and thrive in this country with dignity, respect and longevity. When I asked North Carolina-based social justice warrior,  Michelle Cassandra Johnson what she needed to thrive more fully at this time, she said $12K. Then added, "I'm so tired". As a long-time friend and colleague of Michelle's, I am honored to witness her determination for liberation, healing and social justice. I am equally committed to a world where Black, Indigenous, and people of color are free, free from harm and thrive fully in every possible way. 

We are being summoned to put our money, where our hearts and mouths are for the sanctity of Michelle's life and all Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

Michelle Johnson, author of Skill in Action , shares, "with over 20 years of experience leading dismantling racism work and working with clients as a licensed clinical social worker, I have a deep understanding of how trauma impacts the mind, body, spirit, and heart. My awareness of the world through my own experience as a black woman allows me to know, first-hand, how privilege and power operate. I lead courageously from the heart with compassion and a commitment to address the heartbreak dominant culture causes for many because of the harm it creates. I inspire change that allows people to stand in their humanity and wholeness in a world that fragments most of us. Whether in an anti-oppression training, yoga space, individual or group intuitive healing session, the heart, healing and wholeness are at the center of how I approach all of my work in the world."

Nothing happens on its own.  For decades, abolitionists, freedom fighters, LGBTQ visionaries, black revolutionaries, political prisoners, organizers and leaders, like Michelle Johnson, have tirelessly led the movement with the wisdom of their personal and collective experiences. So many of these activists have fought and died for change. 

We are being called upon to see things in totality. We are (or if we’re not, we should be) as outraged by the last 400 years of Black murder as we are by the death of George Floyd. The recent uprising is about Jacob Blake, shot seven times in the back by Kenosha police and paralyzed, Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed by Kentucky police in her own bed; Rayshard Brooks killed at a Wendy’s in Atlanta Georgia; Ahmaud Arbery shot by two white men in Georgia while jogging. It is about Natasha McKenna, tased 4 times with 50,000 volts while in midst of a schizophrenic episode; Sandra Bland taken into custody after a hostile traffic stop and found hung in her cell days later. It is about Tony McDade, a Black trans masculine person killed by the police in Florida.

We are being summoned to not sugar coat the truth about anti-Black racism, white supremacy and white wealth in our country. Early white wealth was secured by the genocide of Indigenous peoples and by the enforced enslavement and labor of Africans. Still, Black neighborhoods receive less funding for schools, pay higher interest rates and are denied mortgages more often than whites. White wealth is due to white supremacist systems. 

Reparations and equity are past due. The demand for reparations has been made, by M4BL , "the government, responsible corporations and other institutions that have profited off of the harm they have inflected on Black people - from colonialism to slavery through food and housing redlining, mass incarceration, and surveillance - must repair the harm done."

The time is now to leverage our white privilege, to act boldly and take risks in moving financial wealth back to BIPOC without restrictions. Michelle Johnson, and other BIPOC individuals and organizations know what their communities need to thrive in this cultural and political crisis. Retribution and equity means equalizing the ground of this country. "We invested our money on the ground floor of this nation - with literal sweat equity - and we deserve a return on our investment", Michael Harriot's article in the Great White Heist.

A personal example:
I am white and middle-class, was unemployed for the last 4 months and have no retirement fund. I do have a modest savings account. In 2020, I am moving $7K from my savings to several individuals and organizations that I have deep connections with, such as Michelle Johnson, Biwa Emergent Equity and Cypress Fund. I run a health practice that is centered on trauma care. I am offering robust racial equity fees for BIPOC, health reparations for Black Americans and free health clinics for lower-resourced individuals. This is just one example of what we can do. 

Please join me in acting boldly to remediate the legacy of violent exploitation of BIPOC communities that was our ancestors’ legacy. Let’s shift money to center Black freedom and leadership. Let's robustly move $12K back into Michelle Johnson's hands.

There is no sufficient financial restitution for the violent physical, mental, cultural, and spiritual damage and trauma inflicted upon Black Americans, Indigenous and people of color over these many generations. Since each of these peoples have their own histories, we must be clear that the last 400 years and sum of atrocities demands specific reparations. May every attempt at reparation be a catalyst for truth telling, repair and contribution to the larger amount that we owe to Michelle Johnson and all Black Americans. 

May we recognize and honor the full humanity, dignity and love, within ourselves and of the Indigenous nations and the African diaspora. 

With tremendous love and solidarity, 
Keagha Carscallen