BANNER OF RECONCILIATION

Our Banner of Reconciliation Initiative is rooted in years of pain and struggle within African American history. Our goal is to help make into law a bill that provides equal display and protection of the Pan-American Flag as a symbol of admission, acceptance, inclusion and hope for reconciliation as it relates to race relations. Help us make this dream a reality.

Sign Our Petition

The History

It is said, the year 1619 is the official time for the beginning of Slavery, however, the settling of the colonies included disenfranchised African people. There is no accurate count of how many African were enslaved, but historians have estimated 6 to 7 million enslaved people were transported to America during the 18th century alone. There were millions before and after this period.

The Civil War Era

On April 12, 1861, The Union and Confederate Armies declared war and began the American Civil War. Nearly three years later to the date, when the fighting ended on April 9th, 1865 the result was dissolution of Confederate States, Slavery abolished, ratification of the 13th – 14th- and 15th amendments to the constitution, and the beginning of a new era. The ending of the civil war was the beginning of the Reconstruction period in American history.

Also, during the years of civil war, on January 1st, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing African Americans from slavery, thus making them eligible to fight in war and ensure union victory.

Reconstruction in America

For two years after the civil war ended, 1865 to 1867, attempts were made to right the wrong of slavery by balancing the liberties and equality of African-Americans freed from bondage. This was the period known as reconstruction. To date this two-year period remains the only collaborative effort made by US Government to rectify its wrongdoing upon humanity. These notes in our history are important to recall because in America, although battlefield fighting has stopped, the civil war in America continues.

The brief two-year attempt of reconstruction came to an appealing murderous halt, as white people in America overthrew the government (perhaps the first act of terrorism in America), and began the new Jim Crow era. This act to overthrow the government has never been met as an act of aggression against the United States of America. What followed has been, and to this day is a strategic, systematic, political, militarized, social economic assault on “Black” people in the country. In other words, war.

For over 100 years, officially from 1865 to 1968, White Americans tormented and terrorized Black Americans religiously without accountability or repercussions.

Petition Preamble

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty…”

For many Americans these words are untrue. There is nothing from this country that says to its citizens, or to the world that this country, the United States of America is honoring its own Constitution.

These words are also untrue for many Americans. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Due to slavery and all subsequent events which followed, it is apparent that America has no intention of keeping it’s word. It is not only our past but our current mindset that creates a thwarted hope for a better future. At any given time Race relations in the United States are poor. It can easily be said that the term “United States” could be deemed an oxymoron. That is because “our” present and our past are bound to an unreconciled history... Specifically, as it relates to African Americans. It seems the only thing self-evident in this country is that racial tension remains high.

Effectively nothing has been done in the way of outward declaration for equity or equality. How can we strive for racial reconciliation and equality when: There is no symbol of inclusion, no visible statement of equality, no supporting evidence of any efforts going forward, and there is no visible representation stating that our government acknowledges its part in our history of shame.

As a concerned citizen and community activist, I am writing with hope to gain your support in developing a bill for social/racial reconciliation.

The “bill,” to be known as “Banner of Reconciliation,” will be the visible manifestation signifying our government’s willingness to recognize the history, contemporary lives, and future hopes of persons of African descent. This bill will signify the beginning of the United States effort to remember and rectify its misconduct and blatant disregard for human life, and the affect it had and still has on the people of African Descent.

Dirrick Williams | BLAAC Founder

PROPOSAL

I/we propose enactment of legislation that will make into law, an act to symbolize reconciliation, inclusion, acceptance, and admission, Flying the African American/ Pan African Flag.

ITEM ONE

PART ONE

Flying the African American Flag daily from January 1st of each year and until March 1st of each year.

To be flown at all Federal, State, and local government buildings, financial institutions, and all business and organizations who are, in any way, supported by any Federal, State, and local government funding.
At all times, to be flown at all schools (public and private.)
To be flown year-round at all post offices (symbolic to sending a message).

PART TWO

To be flown in remembrance of the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation signed January 1, 1863.
In celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, 1809
In celebration of Fredrick Douglass, who celebrated his birthday on February 14th.
To be flown in recognition of Martin Luther King Day, the third Monday of each January.
To be flown in respect to the death of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who signed the “Voting Rights Act” of 1965, whose death occurred January 22, 1973.
In celebration and support of Black History Month, February of each year.

ITEM TWO

1. The order of use and display:

The United States Flag
The Pan-African Flag
States Flag
2. Wherever the United States Flag is flown, so should the Pan-African flag also fly.

3. The Pan-African flag shall be flown, red color at top position. (fines to be imposed)

4. All other flags to fly subsequent too, and in respect of this order (fines to be imposed)

5. At no time shall the Confederate flag be flown on the same staff/flagpole, or within 400 feet of the Pan-African flag (one foot for every year of slavery).

6. When raising or presenting the Pan-African flag, the African American National Anthem shall accompany (Lift every Voice and Sing)

7. As a national emblem, the Pan-African Flag shall receive the same honors, rights, and privileges as the United States flag.

ENACTMENT

The intent of this proposal is to make into law a bill that provides the equal display and protection, as described in the document, the use and flying of the Pan- African Flag as a symbol of admission, acceptance, inclusion and hope for reconciliation as it relates to race relations and the people of this country.

FINAL NOTES

Outside of the recognition of African American people, the basis and foundation supporting this bill will be the memory and honor of historical events and those who lived the events.

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863.
Martin Luther King Day is the third Monday of every January.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, born August 27, 1908, Died: January 22, 1973
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809
Although Fredrick Douglass was born into slavery and his actual birth date is unknown, it is believed he chose to commemorate his birthday on February 14.
President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965, with Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders present at the ceremony.
On August 13, 1920, the RED, BLACK and GREEN Flag was unveiled to the world by the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, of the World at its first international convention on August 13, 1920.
The meaning of the Pan-African flag colors:
Red: the blood that unites all people of Black African ancestry and shed for liberation.
Black: black people whose existence as a nation, though not a nation-state, is affirmed by the existence of the flag.
Green: the abundant natural wealth of Africa.

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