Personal Reparations 2: Black Wealth, White Saviorism, and H.R. 40
For Part 1 of this story, click here.
Last week I caught a red eye to Hilton Head, spent a day recovering, and then my mother, step-father and I drove the 40 miles southwest to Port Wentworth, Georgia, to meet up with my cousin Koelker and his wife, and then with Randy Quarterman and his family — descendants of a man my great-great-great-grandfather, George Adam Keller, had once enslaved and then given reparations land to, which I’ve written about here.
I was both excited and nervous. I had spent the last month relishing my new, remarkable friendship with Randy. We’d shared photos and stories of our respective families. We’d strategized and researched and been on a conference call together in preparation for our upcoming trip to the Living Cities board meeting in New York. We’d written personal narratives to swap and admire. We’d discussed everything from southern strictures to national politics and organized religion. Finding one another had been so critically timed with Randy’s efforts to save his family land that he often said he knew God had brought us together. I called it good research and serendipity, and felt compelled to explain while I respect all religious beliefs, I don’t believe in organized religion or God as He is typically defined. But when Randy replied that he defined God as Love, it was…
