MMRC works with individuals, local businesses, farms, faith communities and nonprofits to redistribute resources or income that they have access to and we lobby for reparations to be incorporated into city-wide legislation. Our hope is to make all of these actions accessible and replicable for other individuals, groups, and towns in rural Maine and beyond.
Defining reparations
“Reparations are the act or process of making amends for a wrong.” (Ritchie et al. and the Movement for Black Lives, 2020)
Reparations within our framework can take the form of tithing a percentage of one’s income to an Indigenous, Black or People of Color led organization, engaging in the process of land return to the Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, or Penobscot nations or their members, or materially supporting or transferring land to People of Color and/or Black leaders or their projects. These are just a few examples of what material reparations can look like.
What differentiates reparations from donations is that these acts of reparation are situated within an on-going process of deep listening to those who have been and continue to be harmed, identifying as the party who has committed and continues to benefit from that harm (this is new and challenging for some), responding to the stated needs of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in our communities, actively unlearning colonizer and white supremacy-thinking, and perhaps as a starting place for some, learning about the current systems, events, and history that created the need for reparations. In other words, learning about the wrongs. We have created the Reparations Reader, in part, to help with these important learnings.
We have found in this work that the path towards and within the reparation’s paradigm looks different for everyone. For some of us white people in the Collective, we’ve found it helpful to explore how our ancestors benefited from racist and/or colonial laws and systems. For others, our work began in the heart, our own humanness calling us to repair because we trust and believe in the experience of Indigenous, Black, and People of Color. Some of us have also had to learn to name systems, like settler-colonialism. Settler-colonialism describes the system currently in place (begun by white Europeans) that seeks to kill and erase Indigenous people from so-called North America (Hurwitz & Bourque, 2014). We can see this system at work in everything from the continued genocide of Indigenous people to the total lack of accurate Indigenous history in U.S. schools (Hurwitz & Bourque, 2014).
Lastly, we recognize that systemic racism and settler colonialism are not the only barriers to resources, wealth and leadership, and that racial justice and de-colonization work are intimately intertwined with the work to achieve gender, disability, economic and ecological justice. While reparations is only one of many steps we can take to collective liberation, we are called to do this work, and hope you will join us.
- Hurwitz, L., & Bourque, S. (2014, June 6). Settler Colonialism Primer. Unsettling America. https://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/settler-colonialism-primer/.
- Ritchie, A., Smith, D., Johnson, J., Ifetayo, J., Stahly-Butts, M., Kaba, M., Simmons, M., Taifa, N., Herzing, R., Wallace, R., & Obuya, T. and the Movement for Black Lives (2020, August 1). Resources. M4BL. https://m4bl.org/resources/?issue=reparations.
Individual Reparations
We offer a Reparations Reader to support anyone interested in unlearning racist, colonial-thinking and incorporating reparations into their daily lives. We support individuals in setting up income tithes (a percentage of monthly or annual income) directed to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led organizations or “real rent” land taxes that go to the Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, or Penobscot nation or Indigenous-led organization; this land tax recognizes that non-Native people continue to live on stolen land. We also partner with individuals and groups to find creative ways to share resources, time and energy with Indigenous, Black and People of Color led organizations (e.g. special fundraisers, benefit shows, organizing work parties, etc).
Group Reparations
We actively recruit local businesses, farms, faith organizations and nonprofits who are interested in committing to ongoing reparations. These groups can choose their own monetary sum to move, monthly or annually, and we facilitate connecting these groups directly to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led organizations who would be the recipient of those resources. MMRC will not handle or gatekeep any funds. One goal of our framework includes building public awareness in our community around reparations. Additionally, groups will be required to engage in ongoing learning around reparations, decolonization, and antiracism, facilitated by our Collective.
City-Wide Reparations
By building momentum with local businesses, farms and nonprofits, we hope to approach the city of Belfast to incorporate reparations to the Penobscot nation or Penobscot-led organizations. We imagine a movement of funds from the city could be on an annual basis, to simplify the process. We will approach city officials with educational resources and tangible action steps. We envision creating an official committee in city government for racial, gender and queer justice (in addition to committees that already exist in Belfast, such as the bicycle committee and climate emergency committee).
Beyond these steps, we also support individuals and groups engaging in one-time, large reparations in the form of mass money, land return to Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, or Penobscot nations or their members, or transferring land to People of Color and/or Black leaders or their projects, as opposed to smaller monthly or annual amounts.
This is just a basic framework of how Midcoast Maine Reparations Collective seeks to engage in reparations work. We are committed to transparency and deep listening, and we invite the feedback and direction of Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color led groups or individuals throughout this ongoing process.