PUBLIC WRITINGS / INTERVIEWS / PRESS
Public Writings
View all articles by Nkechi Taifa published on Medium. Medium is an online publishing platform for the dissemination to the public or a section of the public of news and observations on news.
I was eight months old when 14-year-old Emmett Till was abducted at gunpoint from his great-uncle Mose Wright’s home in Mississippi. The trial, a month later, had to have been continuously blasted on the news emanating from my family’s radio, centrally positioned in the living room. I was likely in...
How fascinating that while the white world mourns a white European queen who presided over the torture of the Mau Mau in Kenya, Hollywood tries its best to depict African women warriors in a masterpiece of a film. Modupe! Thank you! Ase, Ase, Ase! This film is personal to me for an affirming reason: I have never seen so many...
Tyre Nichols’ brutal murder by law enforcement, and the murders of many other Black people, are the fruit of the poisonous, racist tree of the United States policing and criminal legal systems. These systems are the descendants of the slave patrols used to enforce the inhumane laws of slavery...
If acknowledgement is the first step toward acceptance, reparations for Black people in America has taken a major step forward. The Feb. 17th House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Reparations is one case in point...
Interviews
Hundreds of movement leaders, activists, organizers, funders, and journalists gathered in Atlanta in June 2023 at Alight, Align, Arise, an invitation-only conference on reparations organized by the Decolonizing Wealth Project. As the conference’s media partner, YES! Media spoke with more than a dozen prominent organizers, activists, and leaders—among them Nkechi Taifa, a longtime leader in the movement for reparations.
Lawyer and activist Nkechi Taifa explains why reparations is a policy issue “whose time has come.” By Fabiola Cineas
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In our conversation, Taifa starts with the 1970s, when she first learned about reparations, and explains how the idea moved from the “radical fringe” to the mainstream.
“Reparations was radical and fringe, but it was on the platform of just about any and every organization that was dealing with Black folks back then in the ’60s and ’70s,” Taifa told me.
At a time when racial justice progress is facing backlash, Taifa makes a renewed case for reparations: “Everything that’s going on today leaves me very, very hopeful that it will in fact happen in my lifetime. I’m confident that there will be a national reckoning on race in America, and that reckoning will not be complete until there is reparatory justice,” Taifa said.
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Nkechi Taifa is a lawyer and CEO of the Taifa Group, longtime friend and supporter of Mutulu Shakur. Brad Thomson is a civil rights and criminal defense attorney with the People’s Law Office in Chicago. He has just filed two new requests for the compassionate release of Mutulu Shakur to the original judge in the case, who’s now over 90 years old, semi-retired. He has also filed with the U.S. Parole Commission."
“The reparations movement finds itself in a unique historic moment at this time that must not be squandered,” said Nkechi Taifa, Esq. Founder and Director, Reparation Education Project, Inc. “The impact of Decolonizing Wealth Project’s #Case4Reparations funds at this critical stage will enable the Reparation Education Project to bring added value to the movement and help optimize outcomes in the long-standing quest for reparatory justice.”
Press
Nationwide –– The esteemed publication for empowering speakers and communicators, Speakers Magazine, proudly announces the release of its special Black History Month issue. This edition places the spotlight on the acclaimed advocate for justice and reparations, Nkechi Taifa, Esq., adorning the cover with her compelling presence. The February 2024 issue not only highlights Taifa’s transformative work but also delves into her thought-provoking...
Nkechi Taifa’s Reparations on Fire: How and Why It’s Spreading Across America is a sweeping text.
TheNkechi Taifa author recounts the story of the modern reparations movement, often through her own experiences, in a book that rides a line between historical analysis and revolutionary manifesto. Taifa entered the reparations discourse through her youthful engagement with the Black Power movement, and she has been a prominent figure in the discussion ever since.
“The reparations movement finds itself in a unique historic moment at this time that must not be squandered,” said Nkechi Taifa, Esq. Founder and Director, Reparation Education Project, Inc. “The impact of Decolonizing Wealth Project’s #Case4Reparations funds at this critical stage will enable the Reparation Education Project to bring added value to the movement and help optimize outcomes in the long-standing quest for reparatory justice.”