Activists meet on U.S. slave reparations

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The chairwoman of the African People Solidarity Committee says white residents of the United States should support reparations for African-Americans.

Penny Hess spoke to a reporter with the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune Friday on the eve of African People Solidarity Day. The activist is one of nine speakers at a Nov. 4-5 reparations event in Oakland and San Francisco. "The wealth of the West is built on slavery of African people," said Hess. "White people need to recognize it and support (reparations)."

The committee was formed by mostly white members in 1976. Besides reparations, efforts focus on resources important to the Western economy, such as oil, diamonds and coltan, a substance used in the high-technology industry. Hess says the materials "come at the expense of African laborers who work for the equivalent of $2 per day."

African People Solidarity Day events also will be held Saturday in Boston, St. Petersburg and Philadelphia. The events raise funds for West African projects like electricity and water purification.

A coalition of groups from different countries plan to meet in Berlin in June 2007 to discuss reparations from the U.S., Europe and other countries to descendants of African slaves.

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