The reason we discuss, study and engage Reparations, is because we experienced a prior phenomenon of Chattel Enslavement. Reparation is the response to this phenomenon. We must remember that chattel enslavement was not an over-night phenomenon. It took hundreds of years for it to be “perfected.” Therefore, this issue will not be easy. America was a late comer to this tragedy, but we seem to have missed the fact that the chattel enslavement era is over. It is my perspective that yes, those “legalized” aspects of chattel enslavement are over, and has been over for many years now, but there are vestiges of it that are as brutal as its legalized origins. I call this the “Chattel Enslavement Consciousness.”

In my sermon, I will attempt to show several contributors to this phenomenon and indeed, how we can work to help our country heal from that past and this present eras.