Dual Citizenship

[brianold]

Re: Dual Citizenship for Black Americans I n Africa
Posted by: "Kenneth King" nnamdi79@yahoo.com nnamdi79
Mon Jan 1, 2007 9:00 am (PST)

Given that it may be difficult to imagine the question of dual citizenship or repatriation being a burning issue for the majority of African "Americans", it was also difficult to imagine in 1999 that the U.S. Courts would be giving any concessions at all to restitution claims as in the recent fraud decision against Bank of America et al. Having been with the Internet Reparations/Repatriation Movement since 1999, I definitely see some improved consciousness about these issues. I haven't read the Petition to which you refer. I was simply responding to the debate about so-called "dual citizenship". My point is that you can call yourself a U.S. Citizen as long as you want, but that in itself doesn't change the fact that our legal status in the U.S. will periodically be reviewed. White People's U.S. Citizenship never comes up for periodic review, why? Because they have Human Rights to which they have mutuality, the basis of all law. U.S. African slaves descendants have Civil Rights legislated by others, granted rights, which can just as easily be ungranted, which is why the periodic review is necessary. Now I understand that many of us are not able to accept this. But our inability to accept it doesn't change the facts of law either. It is certainly in our true rights in International Law to decide if we want to seek true U.S. Citizenship with Reparations, i.e. when Reparations are won, or for any of us to choose to return to Africa with Reparations, which is the legal definition of Repatriation (not to just go somewhere) or to go to any friendly nation in the World. This will certainly be an exercise of our liberties and self determination in action with Reparations. THat will certainly be freedom. My point is simply that there is no such thing as "dual citizenship" when you don't even have citizenship on this end and your legal domicile (s) is still in Africa because we have never abandoned it. Cato v. the U.S. is an excellent Reparations case to read which clarifies how the U.S. Courts view our status in the U.S. Jewel Cato et al, on behalf of 48 million (or whatever) U.S. African slaves descendants appealed the Courts decision that the case was frivolous. The Court replied that they did not see any "cognizable" reason to even bring the complaint before a Tribunal of the Law since no law had been broken since slaves have never met with the U.S. to form any law. All of what we are calling law that so-called involves us are Unilateral White Acts, not real laws. One important effect of slavery was to destroy our nation-building skills. A slave believes it is quite O.K. for others to make "laws" for him without his/her involvement as an human being. Understanding again what law is, out of the damages of slavery, is part of the consciousness transformation we need to make as U.S. African slave descendants.

Thanks!

Oscar L. Beard

Black Reparations Activist