Washington DC - After decades of efforts from racial justice advocates, Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has issued an official proclamation declaring February 25, 2023, Reparations Awareness Day.

Though it may be one of the first officially recognized Reparations Awareness Days, activists note that the occasion is by no means a new one.

The initiative grew out of efforts of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA) to boost public support for reparations during Black History Month starting in the early 1990s.

The date is of particular significance, as it was the day that a group of Black Alabama State College students staged a historic sit-in at the Montgomery County Courthouse's whites-only lunch counter in 1960.

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"In the early days, some promoted it as 'Reparations Awareness and Action Day,' making it clear that it is not a 'holiday' but a day to be active building the movement," according to the N'COBRA Philadelphia Chapter website.

"All N’COBRA’s chapters and members were encouraged to do work to raise the awareness of the movement, especially in the Black community across the country."

In her proclamation, Bowser acknowledges the historic role N'COBRA has played in broadening the dialogue around reparations to encompass the damages inflicted during the eras of chattel slavery and Jim Crow as well as in the present.

Throughout N'COBRA's years of advocacy, reparations has grown from what was once widely considered a fringe political pipe dream to a concrete and unassailable reality, with state and local task forces increasingly cropping up around the country.

HR 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, is also seeing record levels of support at the federal level. Despite that, the US House has so far failed to put the bill to a vote, while President Joe Biden has not yet heeded overwhelming calls for an executive order.

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Now, as Reparations Awareness Day activities kick off in communities around the country, the need to reckon with the US' legacy of institutional racism could not be more acute, advocates say.

"Repair the damage and redress the injustice. A crime was done, people were injured, and redress is due!" former US Marine Ahmad Daniels told TAG24 NEWS.

"Reparations is one of the thermal conductors to a processor that lies in the human evolution of existence," N'COBRA member Dr. Paul Dyer added.

In Washington DC, N'COBRA members will continue their public education campaign on Saturday with a robust program, to take place at the University of the District of Columbia from 6:30-9:30 PM ET.

The legislative director for Council Member Kenyan McDuffie, lead sponsor of the Reparations Foundation Fund and Task Force Establishment Act, will speak. He will be joined by N'COBRA founding member Adjoa Aiyetoro, who will provide the keynote address.

A panel, including N'COBRA legislative director Kenniss Henry, youth organizer Aleta Alston-Toure', National Black Cultural Information Trust founder Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor, and N'COBRA Washington DC Metro Chapter co-chair Wautella ibn Yusuf, will give an update on the state of the movement. The discussion will be moderated by long-time advocate Nkechi Taifa, author of Reparations on Fire: How and Why it’s Spreading Across America.

"I am excited to moderate this year’s Reparations Awareness Day as part of the DC Chapter of NCOBRA’s resurgence," Taifa said. "As a 1987 founding member of N’COBRA and a long-time reparationist when it was not popular to be so, the institution of this Awareness Day was an intentional part of N’COBRA’s goal to mainstream the Reparations Movement through massive public education and engagement."

To mark Reparations Awareness Day, people of all backgrounds are encouraged to contact their members of Congress and the White House to demand the enactment of a federal reparations commission with no more delay.