Reparations Sabbath/Saturday
& Sunday are coming: December 17 & 18 2022
We, the Truth Telling Project’s premier program, called Grassroots Reparations Campaign, acknowledge our history and set out to build a new reality for present and future generations by inviting a broad coalition of faith-based institutions, faith communities, and ethically-centered organizations to be part of an awakening.
With other Black- and People of Color-led organizations, we invite ethically-centered organizations and congregations from various religious traditions to atone and heal from participation in white supremacist culture, practices, and policies.
We publicly launched our project in 2019, an important year which commemorated:
- Four hundred years since Africans were brought to this continent in chains;
- Fifty years since James Forman introduced the Black Manifesto, demanding reparations for the role of religious institutions in the slave trade and discrimination against Black people;
- Forty years since the Greensboro Massacre that sparked the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission in America;
- Five years since the murder of Michael Brown Jr., launching the Ferguson protests
Season of Remembrance & Reflection
The Truth Telling Project and its Grassroots Reparations Campaign celebrate two Reparations Sabbath/Saturday and Sunday weekends every year–one in August and one in December.
Leading up to each is a multi-day Season of Remembrance & Reflection, which encourages internal investigation, education, reflection and planning in your community for the Season’s culmination and close on a Reparations Sabbath/Saturday and Sunday weekend.
This year, we began our Season of Remembrance & Reflection for reparations on June 19, 2022, or Juneteenth. This Season ran through Reparations Sabbath/Saturday and Reparations Sunday on August 20 and 21. The 21st marks the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. Our Season resumed on December 2 and will close with Reparations Sabbath/Saturday and Reparations Sunday on December 17 and 18, which coincide with Jubilee Freedom Day.
Reparations are a spiritual practice, not just a transaction, and go hand-in-hand with truth telling. They are a relational practice of healing from spiritual, moral, and material harm. For this reason, we call upon healing, religious, faith, spiritual, healing, and ethically-centered organizations to help lead and support the work of building a culture of reparations. To assist them, the holding of Reparation Sabbath/Saturday and Reparations Sunday celebrations serves as a path forward.
Get Involved
Upcoming Events
This is a Culture of Reparations Weekend in Savannah, GA
Fri. Dec. 16th – Sun. Dec. 18th
Coastal Georgia Center, Savannah GA
Faith-based
Organizing
During the Season of Remembrance & Reflection, the Grassroots Reparations Campaign hosted a series of DIY (or “Do It Yourself”) Reparations Teach-ins on reparations as a spiritual practice and hosting a Reparations Sabbath, Saturday, or Sunday event.
Join our Coalition
Join our #Reparationist family at Grassroots Reparations Campaign by attending our bi-weekly organizing meeting to learn more about our movement.