Black Politics, Greens and Reparations

Donna J. Warren

MY NAME IS Donna, and I once had an addiction problem. I was addicted to the Democratic Party, says Donna J. Warren, the recent Green Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor of California.

At a meeting in 1999 in South Central Los Angeles, she was handed “some dog-eared sheets of paper, describing the `Green Party’ and its platform. `My God,’ I spurted out after I read what he had given me: `I’m a Green!’”

In her essay, written together with fellow African American Green activist Dr. Jonathan David Farley, “Turning the Green Party Black” (www.BlackElectorate.com), Warren cites a proposal for the Greens to draft Cynthia McKinney to run as the Green presidential candidate in 2004. [McKinney is the Georgia Congresswoman defeated in the 2002 Democratic primary by a major infusion of money from the Zionist lobby and Republican crossover voting for her opponent.–ed.]

Dr. Farley, who ran for the Greens in Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District, himself became a Green “when I heard that the Green Party supported reparations for slavery and segregation.” On “The Tavis Smiley Show” and other media outlets, both Warren and Farley were outspoken in advocating turning the Green Party into a new political vehicle for the Black freedom struggle.

We present here some public comments by Donna Warren during her campaign on the theme of Greens and reparations.

THE GREEN PARTY did start out as a party for the environment. But the Green Party is about more; it has evolved into a party that is perfect for African Americans.

Only the Green Party supports reparations for African Americans. Only the Green Party wants an end to the death penalty. Only the Green Party wants an end to “three strikes” (California’s life imprisonment for three felony convictions, including nonviolent theft) as it presently stands. And only the Green Party is in writing in opposition to the war against Iraq.

The United States of America, with its insatiable appetite for slavery, gives our children a despicable choice to serve the master in prison for life or serve the master in war and die. (While Blacks make up 12% of America’s population, we represent more than 40% of the prison population and 40% of the military — in combat, 60%.)

Greens will rescue the money going toward jails and send it back to colleges and schools. We’ll end the public financing of sports stadiums and use that money to pay for universal health insurance.

The Greens are the new opposition. We’re fighting for people over profits, for peace instead of war — alone. We are fighting for social justice and reparations.

When we all join it, the Green Party will become the Black Party that Marcus Garvey longed for. And white or not, a party that supports reparations for slavery and segregation is the party I want . . . . From now on, Green is the new black.

ATC 102, January-February 2003