The Descendants of Stolen People

By Fred McKinney

July 28, 2023

Ron DeSantis could have let things lie in intellectual purgatory where Black history is celebrated without the pain of looking at the implications of that history on the living. Purgatory is a state that is understandably unsatisfying, yet better than one of the alternatives. The resulting reaction and firestorm led by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and just about every scholar of American history is best described as severe condemnation of the ignorance, malice and destructive power of Florida’s actions and DeSantis’ words. I do not think it is overreacting by saying this fight to protect the truth is a fight a democratic society cannot afford to lose and must be fought until the racists submit to unconditional surrender. The war of ideas should not be and need not be violent, but make no mistake, cancelling Black history is one of the most violent acts that can be committed. Nazi Germany. Pol Pot Cambodia, and Rwanda demonstrate that the erasure of history is dehumanization, and this is often followed by physical violence and genocide.

This battle is taking place in the context of other battles that threaten Black economic progress and bring into question what the best strategy for Black Americans is. We need allies and we must be open to collaboration with others who seek justice and truth. Justice and truth should be what binds us in the pursuit of a better America. And we cannot forget that justice and truth are color blind.

The reassessment of being Black in America starts with the question of who we are and how we want to be addressed. We have gone from being called the N word and other derogatory names designed to make us seem less than human to Negro, Black, African, Afro American, African American, Minority, People of Color, and BIPOC. Unfortunately, none of these seem to accurately describe our relationship to America or are universally accepted by the people being described.

I want to suggest an alternative name that describes and honors our past – the “Descendants of Stolen People”. Nearly every person, except for recent immigrants from Africa, who can trace their ancestry to Africa are descendants of stolen Africans. This is a far superior term than any of the current terms used to describe or categorize us, particularly the term “minority”.

The term minority is more a political description than a racial/ethnic one. It is also a term that will eventually be flipped on its head. The Census Bureau predicts that by 2060, the majority of Americans will not be of European origin. Will that make Europeans the new minority? Think of all the organizations, like the one I led, the Greater New England Minority Development Council, whose name will be confusing at best as we approach 2060.

We know from the experience of South Africa that minority rule is possible and is usually accompanied with violence against the majority to maintain minority political power. America is facing the reality of White minority rule in our lifetimes. The Justice Department recently ruled that Alabama’s redistricting needs to be redrawn to create a majority Black district. The Alabama legislature and Governor are fighting this order. Voter suppression is rampant across America, and the intent is clearly to maintain political control by the current majority who will in coming decades become the minority.

The term “minority” has no probative value when it comes to race and ethnicity and therefore to policies, programs, organizations, and government. We need a new language. Words have power and I recommend that we stop using the term “minority” to describe the Descendants of Stolen People. The Descendants of Stolen People is a unique identifier and brings into clear focus how we became “Americans.” So please, do not call me minority, or Black, or African American. I prefer to be called, a Descendant of Stolen People or DSP for short.

In Canada, every public meeting begins with what is called the Land Acknowledgement. This week I presented to a group of Canadian supplier diversity professionals and before we began, the organizer of the meeting read the following statement:

“I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Indigenous Peoples of all the lands that we are on today. While we meet today on a virtual platform, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the importance of the lands, which we each call home. We do this to reaffirm our commitment and responsibility in improving relationships between nations and to improving our own understanding of local Indigenous peoples and their cultures. From coast to coast to coast, we acknowledge the ancestral and unceded territory of all the Inuit, Métis, and First Nations people that call this land home. Please join me in a moment of reflection to acknowledge the harms and mistakes of the past and to consider how we are and can each, in our own way, try to move forward in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.”

There is an active and serious discussion in Congress and in several states about the possibility of reparations to the Descendants of Stolen People. In addition to the compensation owed DSPs, there also needs to be an official acknowledgement of the harm done to DSPs, like the Canadian acknowledgement that Canada was occupied by others before the Europeans arrived.

We need an acknowledgement of the harm perpetrated against DSPs. This acknowledgement is a necessary start to reconciliation between the descendants of the American Founders and the Descendants of Stolen People. Because even if wealth could be or will be transferred to DSPs in the form of reparations, without a public acknowledgement, the healing of our nation cannot take place.

The implications of how we define ourselves are profound. Maybe we should start today. Think about how “Black History” would be taught in DeSantis’ Florida if it were called “the History of the Descendants of Stolen People.” That is who we are.