Pastor Fights Tennessee Bill Prohibiting Slavery Reparations

American anti-slavery almanac illustrationPhoto byWikimedia

Reverend Earle Fisher, senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, has begun a petition to stop the Republican sponsored bill SB0429, that would prevent any study or payment of slavery reparations to decendants.

An amendment to the bill, added and passes in the Senate one year ago, prohibits local governments from exploring or implementing reparations for historical slavery and its ongoing impacts.

Reverend Fisher said:

“This is not about money. This is about ideology. This is about political power,” Fisher said. “This is about people who are hell-bent on maintaining racial and economic inequities across the state and they are scared to death that the truth would come out. So, they don’t want anybody to study it.”

State Senator Brent Taylor, who sponsored the Senate version of the bill, says the issue belongs in Federal jurisdiction and should not have local money spent on it.

A vote on the bill is scheduled for next Wednesday.