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Dear Subscribers and Supporters:
 
Happy New Year! 
 
I hope this email finds you and your family in the very best of health and revolutionary spirits. I also hope that you will give me a few moments of your time to offer some reflections on my slavery disclosure and qui tam (whistleblower) lawsuit, and to appeal to you for your help as we move into the next phase.
 
Osagefyo Kwame Nkrumah suggests that there are moments in history that are hard to discern, yet fatal if let slip by. I believe that this is one such moment in the 2,000 year long struggle to abolish and prohibit any and all forms of slavery and declare them crimes against humanity, and in the 2,000 year struggle for reparations and the right to return to our ancestral homes. Unfortunately, time does not permit us in this email to list the enormous list of victories that have been won in this twenty centuries of struggle. But, let us mention three.
 
On September 7, 2001, the World Conference Against Racism, which was held by the United Nations in Durban, South Africa, declared that the slave-trade and slavery are crimes against humanity, and should have always been so. On February 6, 2003, the Chicago Slavery Era Disclosure Ordinance went into full force and effect. As you perhaps know, this law requires all entities that conduct business with the City of Chicago to search any and all of their and their predecessor entities’ slavery era records, and to disclose any and all records of profits and investments, and the names of any and all slaves and slaveholders. Similar ordinances have been passed in Philadelphia, Detroit, Wayne County, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond (California).

On January 10, 2005, the Chicago False Claims Act went into full force and effect. This act, which was passed in the wake of the procurement scandals that rocked City Hall, mandates penalties, fines and treble damages against any and all entities who commit perjury on any and all government documents, including their Slavery Era Disclosure Affidavits.
 
No one can deny that these inter-connected events were tremendous victories, not only for the reparations and larger human rights movement, but for the struggle to reclaim and rewrite African, Indigenous and World history as well. No one can also deny, that the Slavery Era Disclosure Ordinances in Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Wayne County, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond (California), and the False Claims Acts in Chicago and California have not been implemented or enforced by any of the entities who conduct business with these cities and county, or by the city and county governments themselves. This is a crime against humanity, living, dead, and as yet unborn, as well.
 
On May 12, 2006, Pan-African Roots filed, pro se, after more than 6,000 hours of research, a massive, historic and precedent setting lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Oral arguments were held on this Lawsuit on November 9, 2007. We are waiting for Judge Rita M. Novak to announce her decision. Whatever decision she makes will be a legal landmark and a movement milestone. Our struggle however, for the disclosure of any and all slavery era records in Chicago, and in every city and country in the world, will and must continue and intensify!
 
On January 30, 2008, I will get on the Greyhound dog to go to Chicago to launch a nationwide and worldwide Tour to build support for this Lawsuit. Our opening event will be at the Flossmoor Public Library on the evening of January 31^st. I have been asked to offer some thoughts on sixty years of my life, forty-five of which I have given to the Movement, what I am doing now, and my plans for the future. Needless to say, my thoughts will be “thought provoking,” at the very the least.
 
Pan-African Roots needs and asks for your help to ensure the success of our Slavery Disclosure Tour! This Tour is a low budget tour. You can help by making a contribution, no matter how small; by providing a floor to sleep on and a piece of bread as I pass through your town or visit your campus; and/or by organizing a meeting with Movement veterans and a new generation of youth/students, whenever and wherever you can.
 
Pan-African Roots is a 501c3 tax-exempt project of the Alliance for Global Justice. You can make a secure, online contribution by clicking here, or you can mail your contribution to Pan-African Roots, 1247 E Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Our office number is (202) 544-9433 office. Ask for Banbose.
 
Kwame Ture never tired of saying that the greatest crime that anyone could commit is the crime of being ungrateful. I am working longer and harder for the Movement than I have ever worked before, and I will continue to do so until the lasat second, of the last minute, of the last hour, of my last day. And I will never be ungrateful for the help that you have given in the past, and will give now, and in the future. I could not have come this far, or this long without it, and need your help to continue.
 
Stay Strong!
Bob Brown

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