DETROIT – Michigan Southern Christian Leadership President Rev. Aaron McCarthy said the recent circulating petition on reparation isn’t all it’s pushed out to be.
“This is just a game and it’s a scam that people need to know about right now,” McCarthy said during a press conference on the matter. “You are being tricked and fooled by signing this. What you’re signing is that you’re taking away all of your rights ... You’re putting the fox in the chicken coop.”
MORE: Detroit City Council approves reparations resolution
McCarthy insists the petition doesn’t really give any true power to Detroiters in the first place, and instead a mayor-appointed reparations committee would be the ones making all the decisions.
“There’s nothing here that says you have a choice in what reparations are given, what reparations should be given and who should be given reparations,” he said.
The group also believes potential state funds from marijuana taxes should not be touched because it’s nowhere near enough to compensate for the hundreds of years of slavery and its after affects on the African-American community.
“What should be owed should be up in the tune of $800,000 per Black family. You’re not going to get that with the marijuana tax. That’s not going to happen,” said Freedom Agenda League of Michigan President Gerard Page.
“Each person should have almost a million dollars if it’s done right. Reparations has no chance of even getting close to that and these people know it,” McCarthy said.
If that’s the case, the U.S. Department of Treasury would be paying trillions just to Detroiters alone.
“Everybody out there that signed that petition, you know what to do when you get to the polls. I can’t tell you what to do but you know what’s right or wrong,” McCarthy said.
Attorney Todd Perkins, who’s heavily involved with the petition, sent Local 4 a statement that reads:
“To those who believe the efforts to bring reparations to life are insufficient or simply improper, I am perplexed about their concerns. This is a substantial effort to empower the citizens of Detroit as it relates to how they want monies allocated.
“This is a symbolic and transformative step towards an acknowledgement that Blacks were done wrong, mistreated and deserve compensation. As to the Implementation of the Reparations platform, that deserves serious consideration -- not the chatter of those who are not trying to advance this “Reparations Ball” forward.”
Attorney Todd Perkins
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