Detroiter never gave up on idea of government payments to blacks to compensate for slavery
Hundreds, including several Detroit City Council members, came to Detroit's St. John CME Church to pay their respects to Ray Jenkins. (Charles V. Tines / The Detroit News)
People laughed at him. Fellow blacks thought he was wrong. His own family wondered about his sanity.
If the concept of black reparations seems radical today, imagine what it sounded like in the 1960s.
That's when a querulous real estate agent from Detroit became one of the first to call for African-Americans to be compensated by the U.S. for slavery.
Ray Jenkins, 88, toiled in obscurity as he pursued his quixotic quest for two decades, remembered speakers at his funeral service Thursday.
But the idea gained traction in the late 1980s and again in the late '90s, with endorsements by civil rights groups, a best-seller on the issue, and a string of government apologies.
While "Reparations Ray" remained short of the prize, he was glad to live long enough to see the issue grow into a national debate, said speakers.
"This was a man who was committed, consistent," said civic activist Malik Shabazz. "He was dedicated and nothing was going to stop him."
Shabazz was one of 200 people who attended the service at St. John CME Church. Others included retired boxer Thomas "Hitman" Hearns and most members of the Detroit City Council.
Jenkins' quest for reparations began in 1967, one year after he lost a malpractice lawsuit against Harper Hospital.
His 5-year-old daughter had gone to the hospital for a tonsillectomy but, during the operation, her heart stopped beating for five minutes, leaving her brain damaged. He charged the white doctors with being careless with his black child.
The hospital offered to settle the case but Jenkins turned it down. He lost at trial, coming away with nothing.
In subsequent interviews, he said the incident didn't influence his decision to pursue reparations. Asked why he took up the cause, he said he didn't know.
"I don't know how he got so committed," said his son, Rico, a Detroit policeman. "But if anyone talked to him for more than five minutes, the term 'reparations' would come up."
Jenkins began his quest by writing letters. He wrote to anyone he could think of: politicians, reporters, corporate titans, national talk show hosts, entertainer Michael Jackson.
No one wrote back.
He formed a group called SLAP, Slave Labor Annuity Pay. He was the only member.
He spoke at council meetings, civil rights gatherings, business group luncheons, real estate conventions.
Some blacks snickered at him. Some whites told him to go back to Africa.
"He was a fearless warrior," Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said at Thursday's service. "There will never be another Reparations Ray Jenkins."
There were other indignities.
He finally finagled an appearance on a talk show, in Las Vegas in 1975, only to be told by the host that his idea was ludicrous.
A minister offered to join the cause if he was guaranteed $1 million.
Several times he almost quit. It's hopeless, he told his wife. People aren't paying attention.
But, after sleeping on it, he would resume his quest with renewed vigor.
"He walked to a different beat," said daughter-in-law, Renee Jenkins. "And he didn't mind that at all."
The black reparations movement began gaining support in 1988 after the U.S. government awarded reparations to Japanese-Americans interned in camps during World War II.
Detroit Congressman John Conyers Jr., who had been hounded by Jenkins for years, finally proposed a bill to set up a committee to study the issue. He has proposed the legislation every year since.
A national group formed around the issue in 1988. The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America holds annual conventions and distributes a newsletter.
If America owes a debt to blacks, said Shabazz, then blacks owe a debt to Ray Jenkins. fdonnelly@detnews.com (313) 223-4186
Friday, April 17, 2009 http://www.detnews.com/article/20090417/METRO/904170363/1022by Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News
(Thanks Jamia Shepherd)
ALSO READ:
‘REPARATIONS’ RAY JENKINS JOINS THE ANCESTORS
The Michigan Citizen:
By Councilwoman JoAnn Watson
“Reparations” Ray Jenkins was given that name in 1992 during one of his daily ritual calls to the morning drive talk show I hosted called “Wake Up Detroit.”
Decades before the world began to identify him as “Reparations Ray,” Raymond Jenkins had distinguished himself as a fearless warrior for the rights of Africans in America, and as a proud, self-determined visionary who was singular and unquenchable in his lifelong pursuit of reparations.
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May Amen-Ra, Ptah, Kheper-Ra, and our ancestors be forever pleased with his efforts and may his crossing over be a good crossing over to Amenta. Olatunji Mwamba
As I reviewed the history of America, the Democratic Party machine was as much involved in slavery and oppression of African Americans as any other entity especially in their opposition to voting rights passed by the Republicans in the 1860s. Then why is it that African Americans seem afraid of asking the Democratic Party for reparations?? If anything it seems to me that the Democratic Party should be sued for voter disenfranchisement of African Americans. Such a suit is still actionable today.
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Answer please!