This campaign has ended. Please read here to see pictures from our advocates and to view a special message from Jarrett Smith, Government Relations Advocate.
For over a year, NETWORK supporters have attended educational webinars, prayer vigils, and other reparations-related events to learn about, and advocate for, an executive order for a federal reparations commission to study reparations like the one proposed in H.R.40. And now, justice-seekers are coming together to fill the White House’s MAILBOX with a President’s Day Letter Writing Campaign to President Biden.
President's Day Letter Writing Campaign to President Biden
FEB. 17 to MAR. 3
Justice-seekers are filling the MAILBOX at the White House during NETWORK’s President’s Day Letter Writing Campaign to President Biden to urge him to create a federal reparations study commission by April. Will you join the campaign?
This campaign has ended. Please read here to see pictures from our advocates and to view a special message from Jarrett Smith, Government Relations Advocate.
Here’s what to include in your letter to President Biden (written by hand or printed from your computer):
- Introduce yourself. Be sure to include your religious order, career title, or any involvement in your community. Also share your city and state.
- Choose a few reasons why it is time to establish a Commission to Study Reparations. Scroll below to download H.R.40 Talking Points.
- Highlight why you support establishing an H.R.40-style reparations commission and detail any anti-racism work you’ve done.
- If you have a story to share that would let the President know how a reparations study would benefit you, your family, or your community, share it!
Here’s what to do after you’ve written your letter:
- Take a selfie (photo) with your letter at the mailbox or post office to share with NETWORK
- Share your selfie with us: On your social media accounts, share with #HR40NOW or #ReparationsNow; or email us at [email protected].
- Stamp your correspondence and mail it to the White House
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Join the Campaign!
This campaign has ended. Please read here to see pictures from our advocates and to view a special message from Jarrett Smith, Government Relations Advocate.
Our Values Root Our Call for Reparations
All of us want the freedom to live where we want and to have the resources we need to care for the people we love. For too long, law makers in D.C., state politicians, and businesses, have created inequity in home ownership, the job market, safe police tactics, and more — harming Black economic progress. Some blame and shame Black people for the negative outcomes that flow from this inequitable treatment.
But we know that this is wrong. By divine right and according to our Constitution, all of us are to live free, equitable, and thriving lives. To do this, we must reckon with the original sin of slavery–as it is at the root of racist policy, abuse, and violence that we see in our politics, churches, and economy today. The time is now for a federal reparations study commission.
Talking Points
When writing your letter, consider using these talking points:
What Would Establishing an H.R.40-Style Commission Do?
- H.R.40 sets a framework that would establish a 15-member commission to study the effects of chattel slavery on African slaves and their African American descendants. This panel cannot grant money directly.
Why NETWORK Supports H.R.40 Commission
- Reparations is where we must start in order to chart a pathway to a just future
- Slavery didn’t end, it merely evolved (a quote from Reparations For Slavery)
- President Biden promised during his presidential campaign to support a study of reparations
- H.R.40 embodies cornerstones of our political advocacy: dismantling systemic racism and cultivating inclusive community
- President Biden must act on their commitment to dismantling racist laws, policies and frameworks, and to advance racial equity
- The Catholic Church played a major role in the Atlantic slave trade and supported slavery in the States, Jim Crow, and other forms of discrimination. The Catholic Church gave slave ownership moral absolution, and helped it propagate.
- Catholic teaching demands confession, penance and restitution when a sin has been committed
- Catholic Social Justice advocates must stand up to diminish the impact of historical and contemporary racism in today’s political, social and economic systems, frameworks, and institutions
- The sinful legacy of white supremacy and the enduring racial wealth gap must no longer be allowed to deny Black people good health, educational, and economic outcomes.
Thanks for this help! Wrote a letter. Sr Jackie Moreau RSM Portland, Maine
Thank you NETWORK for your leadership, commitment and action in advancing reparations for the Transatlantic slave trade and all its legacies.
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Just wrote and mailed my letter (handwritten).
Thank you for a beautiful and touching first service. I have written my letter and will put it in the mail today. I appreciate all of the good talking points that you provided. This makes writing a letter so easy.
I put my letter in the mail.
Thank you.
handwritten letter in the mail today