[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Green Party mourns Njere Alghanee, national leader in the movement for reparations

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 6, 2010



The Green Party mourns Njere Alghanee, national leader in the movement for
reparations

• Inspired by Ms. Alghanee's life and work, Greens reaffirm support for
reparations for the descendents of slaves

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on justice, human
rights, and related topics: http://www.gp.org/speakers/index.shtml
Green Party Black Caucus: http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php

• Video clips from the Green Party's 2010 Annual National Meeting, Detroit,
Michigan, June 24-27 http://www.gp.org http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders, mourning the recent death of Njere
Akosua Aminah Alghanee ('Sister Courage'), national co-chair of National
Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA,
http://www.ncobra.org), reaffirmed the party's dedication to reparations for
the descendents of enslaved Africans in the United States.

On June 24, Njere Alghanee had just returned from the US Social Forum in
Detroit with plans to attend the annual meeting of N'COBRA in New Orleans the
next day when her life was taken in a tragic auto accident.  June 24, 2010 was
her 58th birthday.

"The Green Party, especially the party's Black Caucus, has had a strong
alliance with N'COBRA and has supported the demand for reparations.  We send
our condolences and solidarity with Sister Courage's family, friends, and
fellow leaders in N'COBRA.  We honor her leadership," said Alfred Molison,
candidate for Houston City Council, District C (http://votealfred.com).

Members of the Green Party in attendance at the US Social Forum and the Green
Party's Annual National Meeting in Detroit heard the news on June 25.  The
Detroit meeting began a process of considering revisions to the Party's
national Platform; including an amendment offered by the Georgia Green Party
and the Green Party Black Caucus on which Ms. Alghanee had been consulted, to
strengthen language supporting reparations already in the Green Party Platform
(http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/socjustice.html#999024).

During the Green Party's 2009 national meeting in Durham, North Carolina, the
party's Black Caucus hosted a workshop presentation by the International
Commission of N'COBRA, as part of "United Voices for Reparations."  Members of
the Black Caucus joined N'COBRA at the Congressional Black Caucus conference
in September, 2009, during which Njere Alghanee, commenting on apologies
offered by Congress, said "It's not enough to say sorry, you've got to do sorry."

Ms. Alghanee worked hard to promote HR 40, the bill introduced each year by
Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) calling for a study of reparations.

"It would be fitting for the US Congress to honor Njere by getting HR 40 out
of committee and to the floor for a vote.  That would answer the call by Njere
to 'do sorry' and not just apologize for the crime against humanity that
enslaved millions of people of African descent for hundreds of years in the
United States," said Theresa El-Amin, North Carolina Green and Black Caucus
member who was elected national co-chair of the Green Party during the Detroit
meeting.

Ms. El-Amin represented the Green Party at services for Njere Alghanee, which
were held on Friday at Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone
Mountain, Georgia, and Saturday at the Shrine of the Black Madonna in Atlanta.
  For more information about the services and a bio of Ms. Alghanee, visit "In
Memory of Mama Njere" (http://www.mamanjere.com).

During the July 3 celebration of the life of Njere Alghanee, Iyalosa Fulani
Nandi Sunni-Ali comforted family and friends with the report of her last
conversation with Ms. Alghanee on June 24.  She remembered how happy Njere was
on June 24, her 58th birthday and the day of her passing.  The New Afrikan
Women's Organization, of which Njere was a member, offered a rousing tribute
to Njere that brought people to their feet.

The Green Party endorses a broad platform providing reparations for centuries
of slavery and discrimination, citing destruction of identity, the theft of
labor, lynch mob terrorism, de jure Jim Crow, the denial of jobs, education,
housing and political rights, with current public policy still driven by a
white supremacist ideology justifying COINTELPRO repression of liberation
movements, police-state terrorism, and mass incarceration profiting the
corporate prison industry.

"It is with great respect, humility, appreciation and gratitude to have had
the opportunity to be a member of N'COBRA since the early 1990s along with our
beloved Revolutionary Warrior, Sister Queen Njere Alghanee.  We in the Green
Party Black Caucus are determined to work with N'COBRA to lift up the legacy
of Sister Queen Njere Alghanee and her call for Reparations Now!" said Morgan
Moss Jr., treasurer and former co-chair of the Green Party Black Caucus
(http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php).

"Sister Njere Alghanee's work on reparations is comparable to other
contemporary Black women such as Ms. Hlengiwe Mkhize, former chairperson for
the South Africa TRC Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee.  It is
imperative that we in the Green Party support the mission of N'COBRA.  That
mission is to win full reparations for Black African descendants of
enslavement residing in the US and its territories for the genocidal war
against Africans that created the transatlantic slave trade, Jim Crow and
continues to injure African people in the areas of education, health care,
mass incarceration and access to living wage jobs.  I pledge to continue my
work with and support of N'COBRA in the spirit of Queen Mother Njere
Alghanee," said Cynthia McKinney, 2008 Green Party nominee for President of
the United States and former Congresswoman from Georgia.

"The effects of racial discrimination, which included federal and state
government policies such as residential redlining and segregated schools,
services, and accommodations as well as bias by private businesses and
employers, continue to this day.  Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and
other laws prohibiting discrimination have not erased poverty, despair, and
other injuries caused by centuries of racism.  Reparations are a matter of
basic justice," said Farheen Hakeem, co-chair of the Green Party of the United
States and Green candidate for Governor of Minnesota
(http://www.farheenhakeem.org).

Njere Alghanee worked hard to eradicate poverty, transform the lives of those
who survive so that they might also thrive, and create safety and affirm the
humanity and autonomy of those victimized by men's violence.  She was a
producer at Radio Free Georgia [WRFG 89.3 FM] and a leader in the movement to
secure reparations for slave-descendants, chairing N'COBRA.

"She brought a sense of urgency to our work and has left us a legacy and set
an example of civic engagement that challenges us as we must now go on without
her leadership," said Hugh Esco former state-wide candidate for the Georgia
Green Party who also serves on the Executive Committee of Caucasians United
for Reparations and Emancipation (http://www.reparationsthecure.org).  Mr.
Esco knew Ms. Alghanee since the early 1990s when they worked together with
the Up and Out of Poverty Now Network (supported by the Atlanta Greens) and
when she served on the staff of Georgia Citizens Coalition on Hunger.

"I know how much our Atlanta community will miss her.  But her death has
helped me to understand how much Sister Njere's shining light will be missed
across this country and around the world," Mr. Esco added.

The Green Party held its 2010 Annual National Meeting from June 24 to 27 at
Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan -- where Ms. Alghanee graduated
from college, near where she grew up in the New Afrikan Independence Movement
in Detroit.  For more information about the services and a bio of Ms.
Alghanee, visit "In Memory of Mama Njere" (http://www.mamanjere.com).

For video clips and news about the Green Party's national meeting, visit the
party's home page (http://www.gp.org) and Live Stream site
(http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus).


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
• Green Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the
United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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