THE REPARATIONS RACE
2nd Edition
#BuyBLACKJuneteenth

June 19-30, 2023

Part social experiment and part restorative economic justice endeavor, The #ReparationsRace is a grassroots community-led effort to mobilize individual wealth through direct peer-to-peer transaction in order to invest immediate relief funds, growth resources and opportunities into Black and Black-Indigenous families, business owners and organizations.

2ND EDITION OBJECTIVES

2ND EDITION OBJECTIVES

10K

EUR/USD or more in cash contributions, boosted sales and contributed services to Black-owned businesses, creators and individual projects

Inspired by the #10K10Days Challenge from We Should All Be Millionaires by Author and Founder of Hello Seven, Rachel Rodgers

10+BENEFICIARIES

from the Black-identifying diaspora all over the world receiving life-changing funds, visibility and community support in the name of restorative economic justice for global Black communities experiencing systemic racism, oppression and exclusion.

Read the inspiration behind the #ReparationsRace Movement, the story of a DIY Reparations Effort led by a close-ncommunity in Vermont.

10 DAYS

to explore the Open Marketplace on LinkedIn, browse the #ReparationsRace and #BuyBLACKJuneteenth hashtags, and support your favorite local and international Black-owned businesses

Connect with Hola Magnolia’s Founder and Lead Organizer, Erin Corine

  • "No one is free until everyone is free."

    —Fannie-Lou Hamer

  • "Freeing yourself was one thing. Claiming ownership over that freed self was another."

    —Toni Morrison

The Case for Reparations

The topic of reparations for descendants of enslaved African people as a result of colonialism and the Transatlantic Slave Trade are one of the most controversial, unresolved conflicts in modern history. In the context of the United States, the effects of the ever-widening wealth, access and education gap post-reconstruction era are still felt—if not growing. From the reconstruction era to the present, Black communities have experienced over a century of discrimination and violence, victims of unprecedented levels of rage at the very notion of freedom, justice and equality.

Even for those Black, Black-Indigenous and Afro-Descendent individuals that have managed to overcome these physical, emotional and psychological challenges and close these socio-economic gaps within their lifetimes often endure 2-3 times more obstacles, rejections and pushback to then hold only 3% of the nation’s wealth.

That’s a demographic that makes up 16% of the population in the United States holding a minuscule proportion of scalable, inheritable resources and overall wealth mobility while the white majority—which accounts for 60% of the overall population—holds a disproportionate 84%.

While we know this is a longstanding political issue that we could never hope to resolve with a grassroots social media movement and only one designated Juneteenth Holiday a year…

Here at Hola Magnolia, we got a spark that we just couldn’t ignore.

An idea to step away from politics and semantics and just focus on the facts.

There are Black communities all over the world suffering disproportionate levels of systemic exclusion, lack of representation, political marginalization, discrimination and unequal pay.


Some of this comes down to a simple matter of having support at key stages of learning and development.

But some of it comes down to individuals with high levels of wealth and class mobility pouring resources into these historically underrepresented, racially marginalized communities.

We don’t mean charity or disposable income.

Resources in the form of knowledge, devotion, and INVESTMENT.

It would take an entirely new playbook and more than just willpower in order to fix hundreds of years of colonialism just like that—through any government, anyway.

But if you knew there were a way YOU as an individual could make a difference… Would you?

We’re not here to save the world in one holiday season…

But we have an idea.

We want to show that when given directions, a little bit of education, a WHOLE lot of moral support and consent on behalf of the marginalized individuals you seek to serve…

Community-driven reparations for Black People are possible.

Are you ready to make this movement a priority?

Read on to find out how.

Download the Participatation Guide

The 2023 #BuyBLACKJuneteenth Edition of the Reparations Race focuses on uplifting creators and innovators at any stage of business, entrepreneur, solopreneur or creative growth in need of a boost in sales, cash and visibility as they strive to build wealth while serving their communities. Click the image to download.

Don’t make it about debt. Make it about decency.

Community-led reparations shouldn’t be about fault, or even about righting a historic wrong.

In this sense, the past is in the past.

But we can do so much more now that we know what is right.

At the citizen level, you are no more responsible for the state of society than Black and Brown people for being born into their own marginalized experience.

But, if we take idea of “responsibility” out of it…

If you were in the position to repay someone’s investment in your future, would you?

If you learned of someone whose sacrifices have made so many of the privileges you experience or the opportunities afforded to you possible, how would you thank them?

And if you knew someone’s personal growth, professional advancement and community standing hinged upon that one gift, that one investment or that recurring support in order to grow alongside those of a shared experience and the true allies that want to see them win…

…Would that change the way you give?

The Hola Magnolia approach to reparations is about providing relief, accelerating enterprise and catalyzing community growth by developing and funding our leaders.

Visit the Reparations Race Marketplace on LinkedIn

This space is for BENEFICIARIES to pop in, introduce themselves, drop a call-to-action in support of their business, cause or individual project, and for supporters to browse Black-owned businesses to support and tag for the world to redirect their dollars.

Heard enough?
Well, we’re just getting started.

#ReparationsRace

#ReparationsRace

 FAQs

(Because we KNOW you’ve got questions.)

  • The second edition of the #ReparationsRace experiment will take place between June 1-30, 2023.

  • The movement will be run primarily from LinkedIn with the hopes of spreading the word across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. This will depend on how far and fast the word travels!

  • Registration is not required, but encouraged in order to receive coaching and mentoring support throughout the experiment.

  • Reparations are not charity; it is the repayment of the debt that is owed to generations of enslaved Africans that built Western society with free labor and, often times, their lives. Reparations is a form of investment in social, economic and political reconstruction by redistributing disproportionately held wealth from racial and economic majority groups to those groups that have experienced systematic exclusion and retaliatory violence since the abolition of chattel slavery.

  • For the Juneteenth must be a business owner, freelancer, creative or other professional that identifies as Black, Black-Indigenous, Afro-Descendant or mixed race with direct Afro-descendent heritage.

  • The Reparations Race : Buy BLACK Juneteenth Edition will focus on redistributing funds and building wealth for Black-owned businesses, freelancers, creatives and other professionals. The participation categories for all non-beneficiaries are as follows:

    Contributors
    are non-Black individuals that make non-binding peer-to-peer contributions in the form of substantial cash donations and multiple purchases from participating beneficiaries by searching the #ReparationsRace hashtag on social media to find participating beneficiaries. Buyers should aim to buy BEYOND their habitual need by purchasing items as gifts from Black-owned businesses, making regular reparations payments in support Black people and their endeavors, and encouraging others holding wealth to do the same.

    Supporters may not be able to make large cash donations or multiple purchases at this time, but are committed to fulfilling day-to-day needs with periodic purchases at Black-owned businesses, offering a professional development or personal care service to participating beneficiaries, and spreading the word about the Reparations Race. Support comes in MANY forms. Get creative!

    Sponsors are direct supporters of Hola Magnolia and other participating Black-owned businesses, freelancers, service providers and professionals by way of cash contributions, business wish list fulfillment, investment and other collaborative opportunities. To support Hola Magnolia, visit holamagnolia.com/donate or email us at joinus@holamagnolia.com with your ideas.

  • Well, that depends! One of the reasons why we emphasize donating only to CONSENTING beneficiaries is to help create transparency and break down that initial barrier. You will only be able to find information for those that have willingly posted to announce their participation.

    We support consenting beneficiaries through direct mentorship so that they learn to accept and embrace these payments as acknowledgement of the legacy of their ancestral sacrifice on behalf of modern society.

    In turn, we encourage contributors to understand not only their own personal reasons for participation, but why understanding the gravity of this unpaid debt is crucial to the pursuit of racial equity and justice.

  • While this is a personal decision, consider the impact that extra money in your hands can make in the lives of your family, friends or community. If someone you know can benefit from the boost of a no-strings reparations payment for relief, an enterprise or community impact project, consider receiving payments in good faith for work you have done and simply pay it forward as soon as you have the opportunity to do so.

  • Taking the notion of obligation out of the picture, ask yourself this:

    ”Have I benefitted in any way, directly or indirectly, from a society that was built on the backs of enslaved Africans to whom the debt for their labor that has yet to be repaid?”

    If you have immigrated to or integrated into any post-colonial country and have the means to support this cause by donating funds or a service to Black-identifying beneficiaries, please consider doing so as a gesture of acknowledgement of their ancestral sacrifice.

  • You can’t pour from an empty cup, and we certainly don’t want you to. If you are experiencing financial difficulties or need to focus your funds on other personal projects, please consider donating a service to a consenting beneficiary.

    Knowledge is also a form of currency. Brainstorm ways in which you can return any acquired wisdom to the hands of Black and Black-Indigenous people—like counseling, financial services, thought leadership, trade skills, conservation or farming—until you are in the financial position to contribute funds.

    Remember also that likes, shares and referrals go a long way! Please invite your network to the movement! This may be the first #ReparationsRace, but it WON’T be the last! We plan to repeat this experiment twice a year, exactly six months apart: at the Holiday Season and during the month of Juneteenth!

  • Absolutely! We will be cultivating an online community that we hope will thrive and flourish in impact with each biannual #ReparationsRace campaign.

    Check back here after December 1, 2022 for links!

  • Okay, but are you ANTI-racist?

    Having Black friends and family in and of itself neither erases privilege nor eliminates the capacity for developing or acting upon conscious or unconscious prejudice, bias or day-to-day micro-aggressions.

    Marrying into a Black family and raising Black children is not in and of itself an act of paying reparations—and if you considered the thought, I’d encourage you to book a session with a DEIJ+ and/or Anti-Racism coach sooner rather than later.

    Remember that the debt itself to be paid is not the sole responsibility of any individual, slaveholding descendant or survivor. It is about unfulfilled commitments on behalf of many governments throughout the world to repair the harm caused and subsequent hardship experienced by generation upon generation of descendants of enslaved Africans.

    And so, to this point, yes. If you have Black friends and family, all the more reason to add your grain of salt to this movement and ensure that any wealth you can share is passed to their hands.

  • Then don’t. :) Have a nice day!

Join the Reparations Race Community

Become a registered contributor, beneficiary or supporter of the #ReparationsRace Movement to unlock access to to free monthly community events, discussions and learning opportunities all year round!