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The devastating legacy of Transatlantic Slave Trade can still be seen and felt in almost every aspect of American life. Over 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the Black community still bears the burdens of state-sanctioned racial discrimination.
Together we can go way beyond 40 acres and a mule. It’s time for common-sense, locally-driven reparations policies, that begin to remedy the impact of centuries of racial discrimination against Black Americans.
We invite you on this journey to breathe new life into the discussion about reparations and help communities across the U.S. reimagine what justice and equality can look like.
For the first time in American history, a tax funded reparations bill targeted for Black Americans is passed in Evanston, IL. 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 to examine the merits of introducing reparations for slavery to African Americans.
Together, they pressure the government to deliver monetary justice and appropriate remedies for Black Americans harmed by centuries of chattel slavery, state-sponsored terrorism, systemic injustice, and corporate exploitation. Will the debt ever be addressed, or is it too late for a reparations movement to finally get the big payback?
Community
Discussion Guide
Enact change in your own backyard.
Policymaker and Organizer Toolkit
A roadmap to transform government.
The Big Payback: Podcast
Hosted by social justice filmmakers Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow. Erika, a Black woman, and Whitney, a white man, explore the argument for and against reparations for Black Americans.
San Francisco, CA: January 12 Film preview and discussion at KQED. 7 PM
PBS: January 16 National Premiere of The Big Payback
Evanston, IL: January 16 Screening at AMC Theatre 5:30 PM CST
Greensboro, NC: January 30
HBCU Reparations Debate Series Kick-off at Bennett College 1-4 PM EST
May 29 Available on the PBS Documentaries channel on Amazon Prime Video, and will also launch on Amazon, iTunes, and Comcast Xfinity for download/rental
Chicago, IL: Feb. 21 Univ. of Chicago
5:00 - 7:30 PM CST
Evanston, IL: Feb. 23 Northwestern Univ.
4:00 - 6:00 PM CST
DETAILS COMNG SOON
Brooklyn, NY: Feb. 18 Center For Fiction
5:00 PM EST
NC 10 Schools: March 16-23 HBCU Reparations Debate Series in North Carolina
Virtual: March 14 Texas Town Hall Debate 6:00 PM CST