Civil Liberties and Social Justice Task Force

Joe Benton

Under the administration of our President, Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts, the Civil Liberties and Social Justice Task Force was re-commissioned to continue the work of exploring policy issues affecting the African community in the United States. The Task Force in the recent past studied the serious problems of Voting Rights, Criminal Justice, and Racial Profiling. The Task Force also conducted an in-depth analysis of the US Patriot Act. A comprehensive report was submitted to the National Steering Committee for further review and distribution.

In 2007, the Task Force plans to refocus efforts on issues confronting the entire community regardless of age, sex or economic condition. While the former issues that were reviewed and studied in the past, and had wide implications, voting has the broadest base in terms of age and gender. On the other hand, criminal and juvenile justice issues focused upon a small segment of the population with a large victim base. The redefinition of racial profiling broadened the constituency and, in turn, the issues of profiling became more than just stopping Black men in big cars. In the coming year, this will also be an issue for Task Force as it seeks to examine the root causes of what ails Black folk and our civil liberties.

In relationship to each other, the issues of health, wealth and reparations, or the absence of any one has a direct impact on all of our lives. As they relate to our community, it is the position of the Task Force that these issues beg for our attention and policy change. Currently, Black folk are saddled with poor health, and inadequate economic resources to improve our health status. For Black folk in America, health is a privilege, not a right. Typically, it is a privilege that must be purchased by those individuals who can least afford the cost of being healthy. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is a state of complete physical, mental and social (and spiritual) well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Additionally, every facet of life in this society revolves around and involves economics. Health extends beyond wellness and education concerning wellness, and has a direct correlation to both our economic standing and status. Meanwhile, the lack of reparations for enslavement, coupled with blatant and long lasting discrimination, may have repercussions that are as yet unexplored. However, they undoubtedly correlate to our current condition.

Historically, poverty programs beginning with the Freedman’s Bureaus and continuing through the last Great War on Poverty, gave us the proverbial fish. Unfortunately, none of these programs were actually designed to teach us “how to fish.” Consequently, the Black Community ranks last statistically in every category that contributes to a good, sustainable life. Conversely, we are at the front of the line to receive all that is counter productive to a thriving and fulfilling existence. Despite numerous failed efforts, and many that are on-going still, we have not had meaningful, wide scale discussions and dialogue regarding reparations, nor do we have a workable plan to achieve the goals of reparations.

The lack of reparations continues to be one of the major causal factors contributing to the ills plaguing the Black Community. Our status is only good when it is measured against a “Black” yardstick. When measured against “status quo,” the lack of growth and progress toward positive health and economic parity, a glaringly disparity is revealed.

The forward planning of the Task Force will seek to broaden the discussion, and seek to provide guidance to the organization as it relates to influencing national policy development and implementation, in search of social justice.