Tubman House Center For Reparative Justice Political Line
(The Radical Freedmen Tradition 2022)
Federal Government Lineage Based Reparations Advocacy Tradition
A. Tubman House demands full repair from the United States federal government. We stand in solidarity with all grassroots organizations around the country doing reparative justice advocacy on the state/local levels for lineage based reparations. The radical tradition of American Freedmen forced the United States government to emancipate American Freedmen in 1865. Now, Tubman House, in 2022 demands the United States federal government pay the debt owed to the American Freedmen
B. The tradition of the American Freedmen demands our continued radical advocacy that forces the United States government to enact policy towards our liberation. The United States government must atone for the horrors of enslavement by paying reparations. We will not be intimidated by any forms of terrorism in achieving our liberatory justice. This is the radical Freedmen tradition Tubman House subscribes to.
Addressing Obstructionist Co-optation and Insecurities Tradition
A. In this political climate, in the age of social media activism, Tubman House stands on the Freedmen radical tradition of organizing the people within your local communities. The tactics used by organizations such as Black Lives Matter to co-opt the modern day struggle for police abolition should inspire the urgency to organize in your local areas. In addition to lineage based reparations, Tubman House supports police abolition, reproductive justice, equality for Black women and Black LGBTQ community members, and the complete liberation of the Black working class. We will never deviate or conform to any outside pressure applied by agents involved with obstructionist tactics. The radical Freedmen tradition must involve disciplined political lines to achieve our freedom goals.
B. The radical Freedmen tradition has stood in solidarity with all oppressed people from 1619 to the present. Tubman House demands the same level of solidarity in the struggle for justice which calls for the United States to end their oppression of the American Freedmen community. We reject the claim by self-professed radical leftists that lineage based reparations is reactionary. American Freedmen are a super-exploited group in the United States that have been denied generational wealth and any substantial opportunity for economic justice. Moreover, we have been targeted for every racialized system of oppression including slavery, convict leasing, Jim Crow, and mass incacreration. Therefore, we demand complete solidarity from allies to the Freedmen struggle. Allies must tangibly show their allegiance by supporting lineage based reparations. This is the uncompromising stance that our Freedmen abolitionists demanded from white abolitionists during the battle to end the system of enslavement. Any attempt to avoid advocating for lineage based reparations must be viewed as obstructionist intervention.
C. Tubman House recognizes the tactics to sow discord within the reparations movement based on gender and sexuality. Black women and Black LGBTQ folks have always played an essential role in our collective struggle. Tubman House stands with ALL of the American Freedmen community. We practice the radical Freedmen tradition that reminds our community that our traditions encompass ALL of our people in every part of our historic push for freedom in the United States. Your personal insecurities and biases have no space in our movement. Tubman House will never align with groups or individuals that do not agree with this essential aspect of our political line.
D. Tubman House recognizes organizational work requires comradery. The individuals and groups who can “awaken the people,” need to be able to depend on their comrades. The Freedmen radical tradition is built upon disciplined layers of accountability. Tubman House rejects all forms of silencing, gaslighting, and tone policing. The Freedmen radical tradition is based on the “Return of the loud” and the “Return of the accountable”.
E. Tubman House's mission is to ensure our people are not misled by actors with no political consciousness or advocacy, and no agenda or mission to address the plight of the Freedmen community. We will never acknowledge any characters that steer our people towards ignorance or quell their consciousness. Tubman House also recognizes that most of our people perform these roles unknowingly. This does not negate the lasting damage these instances bring to our freedom struggles. The radical Freedmen tradition challenges us to create methods to maneuver around the culprits that aid in our continued oppression.
A Pledge: Education Awareness Tradition
A. Education and raising awareness is central to our political line. Our people need us to make sense of the state of the American Freedmen community. The radical tradition of Freedmen is steeped in the constant political education of our community which has aided in our survival. Freedmen have to elevate their consciousness so that they can better understand our plight as a people. This will provide a necessary starting point for community members to develop tools to fight our oppression.
B. The national American Freedmen community can refer to the educational tools Tubman House provides. The American Freedmen community needs to have discernment. In these times of multiple obstructionist tactics Tubman House stands firm on the American Freedmen radical tradition. Tubman House implores our community to stay vigilant and protect all efforts for truly righteous full repair, which is lineage based reparations.
C. Tubman House recognizes that the support of our community will come as a result of our genuine love for our people. American Freedmen radical tradition has proven throughout our struggle in America, any change was built off of the righteous indignation of Freedmen. Tubman House will fiercely invest in the organizing of our people.
D. Tubman House will never compromise our integrity or that of our people to spread misinformation. Tubman House recognizes the need to provide our community with sound, accessible, rigorous, and authentic interpretations of our history. We must reject pseudo-scholarship, cults, and influencers who have colluded to keep Freedmen in a perpetual state of ignorance and confusion. We take this seriously. The Freedmen radical tradition is not lost. It lives within the American Freedmen community. Some of our people simply need us to remind them
