Reparations Reader

Welcome! We have created this offering to support individuals and groups who may be learning about reparations or land return for the first time. This resource page is not intended to be comprehensive, instead, we hope it serves as an accessible trailhead for continued and deeper exploration and learning.

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The following description of reparations is borrowed with permission from the Yet-To-Be-Named Network (YTBN), who based it off the Movement for Black Lives Reparations Now Toolkit:

United Nations’ five defining marks of reparations:

• Cessation, assurances and guarantees of non-repetition (of whatever crime against humanity the reparations are meant to address).
• Restitution and Repatriation (In YTBN language, “returning what can still be returned, repairing what can still be repaired”)
• Compensation (for that which cannot be returned or repaired)
• Satisfaction (for moral damage, such as “emotional injury, mental suffering, and injury to reputation.” In some instances where cessation, restitution, and compensation do not bring full repair, satisfaction is also needed. Apology falls under the reparative category of satisfaction.)
• Rehabilitation (to be provided for legal, medical, psychological, and other care and services).

MMRC provides pathways for people to give reparations in the spirit of restitution, repatriation, and compensation. For example, restitution and repatriation can be practiced through the returning of land to Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, or Penobscot nations or their members. Reparative compensation can be practiced through materially supporting an Indigenous, Black, and/or People of Color led organization. In our framework, we also invite groups or businesses to publicly center the work of the organization they are supporting and commit to continued education like reading selected writing and/or participating in facilitated discussions on an annual basis.