A00052 - Restitution, Reparations and Reconciliation

 


June has been a month of some remarkable acts aimed at a form of reconciliation.  Two of the more acts occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the Belgian monarch visited the country and returned some Congolese art

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/09/belgium-king-philippe-democratic-republic-congo-colonialism/

along with the return of the tooth of Patrice Lumumba -- the only part of his body that remains from his brutal murder

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/tooth-patrice-lumumba-congo-independence-returned-familly-belgium-rcna33270

I suspect that we are entering a period when many European nations will have a "reckoning" over the atrocities committed during their colonial periods.  However, we in the United States still have reckonings of our own to endure

On a personal note, it appears that progress has been made on the return of Bruce's Beach to some of my distant cousins.  

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-23/los-angeles-county-releases-plan-to-return-bruces-beach

Let the reckonings continue so that the reconciliations can begin. 

Peace,

Everett Jenkins
Fairfield, California
June 27, 2022

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