Take Action
Start a Local Reparations Group
Change starts in living rooms, churches and community halls. Use this planner to build a group in your community, host honest dialogue and raise awareness about the debt owed to descendants of American slavery.
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01
Gather your founding circle
Invite three to five people you trust — family, church members, neighbors, classmates. Agree on why you are meeting: reparations for descendants of American slavery as a debt owed, not charity.
02
Learn together first
Before speaking publicly, read the same material so your group shares a foundation.
03
Plan your first meeting
Pick a free, accessible space — a library room, church hall, community center or living room. Keep it to 90 minutes.
04
Host honest dialogue
Set ground rules: listen fully, speak from experience, respect family histories, and stay focused on repair. Use the conversation prompts below.
05
Raise awareness
Turn conversation into visibility: a teach-in, a film screening, a table at a community event, or testimony at a public hearing.
06
Take it to your lawmaker
Bring the group's ask to the people who hold the vote: your state and federal lawmakers, and the Black Caucus that carries reparations bills.
07
Keep it going
Meet monthly. Track progress, welcome new members and connect with other local groups.
Create your meeting invitation
You're invited to the first meeting of our local reparations group. When: [date and time] Where: [location] We'll learn together and talk honestly about reparations for descendants of American slavery — what is owed, who owes it, and what repair could look like here. Bring a friend and your questions. Learn more: https://reparationsnews.com
Conversation prompts
- What did your family pass down — land, stories, or losses?
- What does 'reparations as inheritance' mean to you?
- Which institutions in our city profited from American slavery or segregation?
- What would meaningful repair look like for families here?
- What is one question you want answered at our next meeting?
How to get involved in reparations
Contact Your Lawmaker and the Black Caucus
A group that meets is power. A group that calls is a vote count. Four steps turn your circle's conversation into pressure on the people who schedule reparations bills — your own lawmakers, and the Black caucuses that carry them.
01 Find your lawmaker
Staff sort contacts by bill number and district, so the first job is knowing exactly who represents you.
02 Call or email — use the script
Keep it under 30 seconds. Ask for a written answer and write down the staffer's name.
Hi, my name is ___ and I live in ___ (city / ZIP), in your district. I'm a descendant of people enslaved in the United States. I'm asking [lawmaker] to support a reparations compensation bill and to ask leadership to bring it to a floor vote this session. Can you tell me where they stand? I'd like that answer in writing.
03 Go straight to the Black Caucus
Without a governor willing to champion payment, a compensation bill depends on the Black Caucus forcing the issue — and on leadership agreeing to bring it to a vote. Ask them, in writing, where they stand and what they will do this session.
- California Legislative Black Caucus →Carries and amends the state's reparations bills
- Congressional Black Caucus →Federal reparations legislation, including H.R. 40
- National Black Caucus of State Legislators →Black state legislators in every state
Read the full playbook: How voters make leadership schedule a vote and the Forcing the Vote series.
04 Show up at a hearing
Committee hearings are open to the public and allow short comment, in person or by phone. Say your name, your city and "support" or "oppose" with the bill number. If you get longer testimony, tell one family story backed by one record — a census line, a deed, a Freedmen's Bureau file.
- California Assembly daily file — hearing schedule
- California Senate — committee calendar
- How to testify at a public hearing
- How to contact your representatives
Watch the calendar
California dates below; other states keep different calendars, so check your legislature's session dates.
January–February
Bills introduced
Ask your lawmaker to author or co-author
Spring
Policy committee hearings
Testify; call committee members
May
Appropriations 'suspense file'
Call Appropriations members — this is where cash bills die
June 15
Budget deadline
Ask for reparations funding in the budget
August–September
Final floor votes
Call leadership and your own lawmakers
By Sept. 30
Governor signs or vetoes
Call the governor's office
Do it as a group
One call is a message. Ten calls on the same bill from the same district is a pattern. Set a call-in night, split the districts among members, and log every answer. Then send what you learn to our Reporting Desk so the record stays public.
Tools for your group
- Legislation Tracker — see what's moving in your state and write to officials.
- Glossary — shared vocabulary for your discussions.
- Timeline — the history behind the debt.
- Resources — books and films for study sessions.
Civic action dispatch
Now act on it
A debt documented is not yet a debt collected. See it, prove it, force it.
- 01Federal + state bills
Step 01 · Monitor
Track the bills
Follow active reparations measures in Congress and the states.
Open tracker - 023,142 counties
Step 02 · Document
Verify the receipts
Find slave schedules, Freedmen's records and land deeds in your county.
Search your county - 03Scripts + caucuses
Step 03 · Mobilize
Organize your district
Call your lawmaker, reach your Black Caucus and start a local group.
Get the playbook
Priority action · 30 seconds
Call your state lawmaker today
Copy the script, then find your representative's number on the community page.