FirstRepair

Chicago Film Festival: 'The Big Payback' Documentary
2022-10-23 14:00 - 16:30 (America/Chicago) | AMC River East, Chicago, IL, United States
In 2021, Evanston, Illinois became the first city in the United States to approve a reparations program for some of its Black residents. How did it get there? Captivating and urgent, The Big Payback follows the dramatic journey of rookie Alderman Robin Rue Simmons as she fights to redress the wrongs of “redlining” and the legacy of slavery. Filmmakers Erika Alexander (John Lewis: Good Trouble) and Whitney Dow (Two Towns of Jaspar) chart Simmons’ emotional and political path from the onset of the pandemic through the racial protests of 2020, as she faces detractors who criticize her legislation for doing too little and supporters who herald the bill as an important first step into the future. An inspiring story of the early signals of seismic change, one citizen and then one city at a time.

Chicago Film Festival: The Big Payback Documentary featuring Robin Rue Simmons
2022-10-22 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Chicago)
The Big Payback
Dirs: Erika Alexander & Whitney Dow
In 2021, Evanston, Illinois became the first city in the United States to approve a reparations program for some of its Black residents. How did it get there? Captivating and urgent, The Big Payback follows the dramatic journey of rookie Alderman Robin Rue Simmons as she fights to redress the wrongs of “redlining” and the legacy of slavery. Filmmakers Erika Alexander (John Lewis: Good Trouble) and Whitney Dow (Two Towns of Jaspar) chart Simmons’ emotional and political path from the onset of the pandemic through the racial protests of 2020, as she faces detractors who criticize her legislation for doing too little and supporters who herald the bill as an important first step into the future. An inspiring story of the early signals of seismic change, one citizen and then one city at a time.

Evanston Reparations Townhall
2022-10-22 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | Second Baptist Church, 1717 Benson Avenue, Evanston, IL, 60201, United States

Enterprise's 40th Anniversary National Conference
2022-10-20 07:30 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Omni Shoreham, Washington, DC, United States
We’ve been breaking barriers and building communities to make a good home possible for the millions of families without one for the past 40 years.
To celebrate, we’re bringing together the greatest minds in affordable housing. Join us as we tackle today’s most pressing issues and prepare for the next 40 years.

San Francisco Human Rights Commission - Pathway to Parity: Investing in Economic Rights for All
2022-10-06 - 2022-10-07
Be part of the conversation with some of the nation’s most forward-thinking policy experts on transformational economic empowerment strategy and related impacts. Discussions will address youth employment development pipelines, reparations, entrepreneurship, and other pathways to economic mobility and security.

Engage with thought leaders including Darrick Hamilton (The New School), Alicia Garza (Black Futures Lab), Pinky Cole (Slutty Vegan), Sheryl Evans Davis (San Francisco Human Rights Commission), Michael Blake (Fmr. New York State Assemblymember), Malik Henfield (Institute for Racial Justice, Loyola University Chicago), Shamann Walton(San Francisco Board of Supervisors), Malia Cohen (California Board of Equalization), Robin Rue Simmons (First Repair), and many more at this innovative, multi-site, live & virtual convening.

The conference is a follow up to November 2021’s Strategies to Advance Economic Inclusion, which can be viewed in full here.

Registration for all conference sessions, either in-person or virtually, can be completed here.
Interested in supporting the summit through a sponsorship? Contact devi.zinzuvadia@sfgov.org for more information about ways to engage.

University of Cambridge - Envisioning Reparations: Historical and Comparative Approaches
2022-09-30
In light of Cambridge’s exploration of its historical connections to colonialism and slavery, this conference proposes to bring together scholars of Africa and the African diaspora in order to generate a broad discussion on the concept of ‘reparation’ as it relates to Black history and Black movements for freedom and equality. Rather than focusing exclusively on the UK, the US, or English-speaking Caribbean countries, this conference invites the broadest possible discussion of the black populations throughout the Americas as well as the formerly colonised nations of Africa.
Sessions will specifically address the origins and evolution of reparations movements from the period of slavery until the present, and the conference invites debates on the horizons of possibility for this controversial and embattled cause. Calls for varying forms of reparations have raised questions about the place of morality, politics, economics and law in evolving interpretations of the past.
This conference proposes to contribute to the University of Cambridge legacies of enslavement inquiry through dialogue with world-leading scholars on Black history while also creating a forum to advance the rapidly evolving public debate on slavery’s long legacies and the idea of historical reparation.
GET MORE INFORMATION

Local Reparations Strategy Session: HR-40 Update - Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
2022-09-29 12:30 - 14:00 UTC
Local Reparations Strategy Session
HR-40 Update
September 29, 2022
12:30 – 2:00PM CST
Local Reparations Strategy Session aims to support and expand the work of local and municipal reparations activists. Together we are creating a new broad consensus around racial redress and securing reparations across the country.
JOIN VIA ZOOM
FUTURE DATES/SPEAKERS
10/27/22 Reparations Community Education, Kamm Howard – Reparations United
11/24/22 Local Reparation Certification, Dr. Ron Daniels – NAARC
12/29/22 Special Kwanzaa Celebration

Prosperity Summit - Marching On: Reimagining Economic Justice for All
2022-09-21
The Prosperity Summit is the premier national gathering for champions of racial economic equity.
Hosted biannually, attendees come to the three-day gathering to network, learn, discover and inform new solutions, deepen shared understanding of core issues, build collective power, and take action for transformative change.
The Summit’s mission is to convene all people with the shared goal of creating a more equitable economy to discuss how to reduce wealth inequity and open the door to opportunity for everyone, especially people of color, in the United States.

Prosperity Conference
2022-09-15 10:00 - 11:00 UTC

Reparations Strategy Session: Creating a Political Strategy - Michael Blake, CEO of Atlas Group & Former Obama-Biden Administration
2022-08-25 12:30 - 14:30 UTC
Reparations Strategy Session
Creating a Political Strategy
August 25, 2022
1:30 – 3:00PM EST
Reparations Strategy Session aims to support and expand the work of local and municipal reparations activists. Together we are creating a new broad consensus around racial redress and securing reparations across the country.
AGENDA

Welcome from Robin Rue Simmons
Local Reparations Announcements
Introduction to Guest Speaker, Michael Blake
Today’s presentation: Creating a Political Strategy
Regional Cohorts
Closing remarks

FUTURE DATES/SPEAKERS
9/29/22 HR-40 Update, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee – United States Congress
10/27/22 Reparations Community Education, Kamm Howard – Reparations United
11/24/22 Local Reparation Certification, Dr. Ron Daniels – NAARC
12/29/22 Special Kwanzaa Celebration
WEEKLY SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Michael Blake is the President of Next Level Sports and Entertainment – the only Black owned national TV Sports network in our country’s history. Viewed in 21 million U.S. households and more than 100 million global households and with programming ranging from HBCU-Know to the What’sNXT studio show, Blake is leading a team that is disrupting the Sports, Media and Technology industries.
Michael Blake is the Founder & CEO of Atlas Strategy Group, Inc. which focuses on Economic Empowerment through increasing Access to Capital, Contracting and Opportunities to Minority, Women and Small Businesses along with less than 300 employees who contract with New York State get paid in 15 days instead of 30 and was the lead Co-Sponsor on the Five year extension and expansion of the statewide M.W.B.E. program. Blake led the efforts to create the first and only statewide My Brother’s Keeper education program in the country, now totaling more $74 million in four years. Moreover, Blake helped led the charge to Raise The Age of criminal responsibility so that 16 and 17 year olds are not tried as adults in criminal court, secured funding for leadremediation in New York City public housing and continued to lead the effort in funding Diversity in Medicine medical scholarships for Students of Color.
Michael Blake served as a Vice Chair at Large of the Democratic National Committee from 2017 to 2021, being the first Black man elected to DNC leadership since Ron Brown, helping lead efforts to mobilize millennials, communities of color, local elected candidates and training. Blake has traveled to 31 states and to Japan since the DNC election in February 2017 ranging from candidate trainings to creating Get Out The Vote strategies in base communities across the country.
Michael Blake served in the Obama-Biden administration as the White House Associate Director of Public Engagement and Deputy Associate Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs coordinating outreach to the African American, Minority and Women Business Enterprises and state and county elected official communities. Michael created and executed the Urban Entrepreneurship Summit series, a seven-city tour coordinating Public,Private and Not for Profit Partnerships across the country. Moreover, Blake along with Bibi Hidalgo coordinated the Interagency Federal Procurement working group dedicated to increasing procurement spend to Minority and Women Business Enterprises, leading the highest percentage and dollars spent across agencies for MWBEs on record.
Michael Blake’s public and political service began in 2006 as one of the first ten participants in the “Yes We Can” training program led by Senator Barack Obama. After successfully managing three state houses in Michigan, in early 2007, Michael joined then Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign as the Iowa Deputy Political Director and Constituency Outreach Director. A 2007 Time Magazine article stated:
“At just 25 years old, Michael Blake may have more to do with Barack Obama’s chances of becoming President than anyone besides the candidate himself. That may sound like a stretch, but Blake has the all-important job of bringing in new Iowa voters to caucus for the Illinois Senator.”
In his 20-month, eight state campaign tenure throughout the 2008 Obama-Biden campaign, Blake concluded as the Michigan Deputy State Director and Political Director for the general election. Blake departed the White House to serve as the national deputy director of Operation Vote for the Obama-Biden 2012 re-election and helped expand the diverse electorate that later re-elected President Obama and Vice President Biden, leading to historic turnout among constituencies nationwide.
Blake is a Five-Year Term Member fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations and an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow.Michael is on the board for iVOTE, served as a 2016 Resident fellow at the Harvard University Institute of Politics, becoming the first sitting elected official to serve in that capacity and recently was an advisory board member for the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. Michael is a national Honorary Co-Chair of the New Leaders Council, which has trained more than 7,000 millennials in progressive policies and political organizing.
Michael Blake is a proud alum of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and Brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 100 Black Men and Prince Hall Freemasonry. Blake is a licensed minister in the United Methodist Church and African Methodist Episcopal church. Michael absolutely loves the Yankees, College Football. Live Music and of course, Jamaican cuisine.

Accra International Reparations & Racial Healing Summit
2022-08-01 08:00 - 2022-08-04 17:00 UTC
At no other time in history has the demand for a global black identity been more apparent. Identifying how slavery, colonialism, and racism intersect and impact the lives of black people across the world is therefore critical to demanding reparations, fostering healing, and restoring dignity. It is against this backdrop that we are convening this global summit in Accra, Ghana.
In Africa, ongoing continental campaigns and discussions that had been stalled have been revived, albeit incongruently. The African Union (AU) for instance, has become more vocal in its demand for restitution for stolen African religious symbols and cultural relics, as well as a recognition of the African diaspora community in the advocacy for reparations. Through its various organs such as the Departments of Political Affairs, Peace and Security (DPAPS), Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO), Economic Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), the AU has undertaken a series of initiatives to reach a common position on Reparations for Africa, and an advocacy campaign on reparations from former slave holders and colonial powers.
But there is a significant gap in this renewed energy for advocacy and political commitments. The discussions and debates, especially those within the African continent are happening in silos. The interventions seem half-hearted, the campaigns appear uncoordinated and there seems to be a lack of comprehensive strategy and agenda for reparations.

WTTW’s FIRSTHAND: Segregation - Evanston Reparations: Lessons in partnership with Reparations Stakeholder Authority of Evanston, and the Evanston Community Foundation
2022-06-20 17:30 - 19:00 UTC
Join WTTW, Reparations Stakeholder Authority of Evanston, and the Evanston Community Foundation for a FIRSTHAND: Segregation screening and conversation in honor of the celebration of Juneteenth as a national holiday. This virtual conversation will include the screening of a short documentary from WTTW’s Firsthand: Segregation series, which will serve as a jumping-off point for a discussion of local lessons from Evanston, the first municipality to enact and fund local reparations. Explore Evanston’s celebrations and learnings and what comes next for reparations for Black Evanstonians, and how they could be applied to the growing Reparations movement across the country.
Panelists include Robin Rue Simmons, Founder and Executive Director of FirstRepair, a new not-for-profit organization that informs local reparations, nationally; Morris (Dino) Robinson, founder of Shorefront Legacy Center; Reverend Dr. Michael Nabors, Senior Pastor at Second Baptist Evanston and President of the Evanston Branch of the NAACP; and Dr. Cornell William Brooks, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University . The panel will be moderated by Sol Anderson, Evanston Community Foundation President and CEO.
FIRSTHAND: Segregation is part of WTTW’s award-winning FIRSTHAND multiplatform, multi-year initiative focusing on the firsthand perspectives of people facing critical issues in Chicago. Visit the website to explore the project.
This event is free, but RSVP below is required.
Click Here to Get Details & Register!

Apollo Theater - Color Farm Media Presents: 'The Big Payback'
2022-06-19 17:00 - 20:00 UTC | Apollo Theater, 253 W 125th Street, New York, NY, 10027, United States
WHAT:
The issue of reparations has gained increased attention and movement over the last few years, with states, like California, and cities, like Evanston, IL, examining and passing policies that seek to redress the harm of slavery and anti-Black discrimination.
After premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, The Big Payback will screen at the historic Apollo Theater on Juneteenth. The film explores the historic reparations effort in Evanston, Illinois, and how the local bill connects to the national reparations conversation in D.C.
As an official co-sponsor of the event, Ben & Jerry’s will also offer Root Beer Floats in support of the Reparations NOW campaign.
WHO:

Panelist: Erika Alexander – Co-Director, The Big Payback (Actress, and Producer, Color Farm Media)

Panelist: Whitney Dow, Co-Director, The Big Payback

Panelist: Robin Rue Simmons, Executive Director, First Repair

Moderator: Michael Blake, Former Assemblyman and former Vice-Chair of the DNC

WHEN:
Sunday, June 19, 2022

Doors Open: 5 pm ET

Movie Screening Begins: 6 pm ET

Followed by Panel Discussion

Tribeca Film Festival - The Big Payback Documentary: Fight of Rookie Alderman, Robin Rue Simmons
2022-06-18 15:30 - 17:30, 2022-06-11 14:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Village East by Angelika, 181-189 2nd Ave, New York, NY, 10003, United States
For the first time in American history, a tax funded reparations bill for Blacks is passed in Evanston, IL. Funded by a tax on cannabis, the program is set to deliver $10 million as a correction for the systematic bias historically inflicted upon its Black constituents. The film follows the Fight of Rookie Alderman Robin Rue Simmons as she leads the community in an uphill battle to obtain this ‘big payback’. Meanwhile, in Washington DC, the formidable Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee continues the fight to pass HR 40: a national bill languishing in Congress for 30+ years, to examine the merits of introducing reparations for slavery to African Americans. While the racial reckoning of 2020 plays out it the background, the two women navigate supporters and detractors, Black and white, in this quest towards correcting historical wrongs.
Erika Alexander (actress, Living Single and producer of John Lewis: Good Trouble) and Tribeca Festival alum Whitney Dow co-direct this journey of a Black woman stepping into her power and creating measurable change. With a cameo by TaNehisi Coates, this informative, insightful window into the legislative process brings with it an uplifting message championing the rights of citizens to challenge the status quo and gives needed exposure to the conversation around reparations. –Karen McMullen
Get Tickets Here!

King Boston’s Inaugural Embrace Ideas Festival
2022-06-16
Thursday, June 16: “Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations”
Hosted by: WGBH
Keynote: Tammy Tai, King Boston’s deputy director; Kamm Howard, National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA)
“Are We Ready for City Level Reparations” panel featuring: Jemadari Kamara, University of Massachusetts Boston; Sheryl Evans Davis, San Francisco Human Rights Commission; Amilcar Shabazz, Amherst African Heritage Reparation Assembly; and Robin Rue Simmons, FirstRepair.
Social time artist: Amandi Music
Purchase Tickets at www.embraceideasfestival.org.

Tribeca Film Festival - The Big Payback Documentary: Fight of Rookie Alderman, Robin Rue Simmons
2022-06-14 20:30 - 22:30 (America/New_York) | Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, 260 W 23rd St, New York, 10011

AI For the People's June Celebration
2022-06-14 18:00 - 20:30 UTC | Loft North of the SoHo Grand Hotel, 310 West Broadway, New York, NY, 10013, United States

Panel Discussion: "The State of the Local Reparations Movement"
2022-06-14 12:00 - 13:00 UTC
On Tuesday, June 14th, at 12:00 PM ET, First Repair will host a panel discussion between Robin Rue Simmons, Keith Williams, Dr. Cheryl Grills, and Kamm Howard on the state of the local reparations movement. Moderated by Dr. Andre Perry, Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro, the panel will explore the various ways cities and states are approaching reparations efforts and what this means for the national push for reparations.
“The issue of reparations has gained increased attention and movement over the last few years with states, like California, and cities, like Evanston, IL, examining and passing policies that seek to redress the harm of slavery and anti-Black discrimination.”
Please RSVP Here: bit.ly/ReparationsPanelJune14th
WATCH FULL PANEL DISCUSSION HERE:

Tribeca Film Festival - The Big Payback Documentary: Fight of Rookie Alderman, Robin Rue Simmons (At Home Screening)
2022-06-13 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)

Reparations Reconciliation & Repair
2022-06-13 12:00 - 13:30 UTC
Evanston’s Interfaith Community Joins in Support of Reparations, Truth & Healing

Click Here to Stream LIVE!

Pre-Juneteenth Virtual National Rally
2022-06-01 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Stream LIVE at www.ReparationsComm.org
