My name is Vilena Briggs I am a 72 year old African American woman who is raising funds for a car trip which was to start in New Orleans to interview Lawrence Brook, 112 year old Veteran of World War II who was trying to get the GI Bill of WWII reinstated so that his daughter could attend college at Tulane university under GI benefits denied him then. He unfortunately passed away before I could reach him. I will continue my car journey to each capitol of all 50 states. I will stop at the capitol and request an apology for the atrocities of slavery from each governor. I will present a proposal to the governor outlining the Reparation Initiative which is based on our present Veterans Administration. The funds requested will be used for gas, lodging, food, and 1roundtrip air line tickets to Hawaii and Alaska. This fundraiser is to end at our nations capital where I pray to present the governor apologies to our president along with an oversized check stating insufficient funds from Doctor Martin Luther King's march on Washington 1963. My hope is that many will join me on this historic ride for reparations. Let us pray that our sitting president will then issue an apology long over due to the African American descendants of slaves along with receipt of a proposal for resolving the payments due to us. In January 2022 I was inspired naturally and spiritually to start a ride throughout all the 50 states to place a face on reparations. I was born in 1950, a baby boomer but probably one of few that remember vividly the great great grandmother or father that lived through the horrors' of Jim crow and lynching's in the south before the great migrations to northern cities, You see I had been given a new car as a blessing. From a prayer delivered over 2 years before. The car had to be used for spiritual reasons, while walking my deceased son's yorkie..I literally had to stop on hwy 301 here in Tampa. The sadness and ache in my chest. No it was not a heart attack. It was the wailing of the many victims of Jim crow. I picked up Bruno and I felt weeping as the thoughts of the mothers, sisters, etc who were; if not the victim then the witness to the horror and terror of the lynched and burned victims before them. I knew then that the first words were Oh My God please help us. God states in his word, 1000 years is like unto 1 day for him...so 400 years is less than half a day for him. So like he heard by my request. He heard theirs also. So every day since 1/3/22 I have attempted this ride. Everything seems to have stopped me, mainly illness, covid predominately,. Then a mass in my right leg. But I am resisting everything now except this call to say the names or cities, states of these victims. I know there are senators and private organizations talking, writing, and debating the need for reparations. I know that but I am a 72 year old great-grandmother, praying woman , child of God who was given the silver Gator(the name I gave my car) to take main street and survivors of slaves and its atrocities to the state and finally the federal government. Hopefully with God's grace the governors will give me their apologies which I will take to the president. I represent ,main street and the voiceless in all the years of denied rights and protections. I go back to the bank of justice and say you are not bankrupt, , you must honor the promissory note called the constitution which Martin Luther King spoke of. It is time,,,now right now. So please my vanilla sisters and brothers along with my African American brothers and sisters let your voices be heard. Please support me and all movements seeking reparations for a disenfranchised people made less than human for profit.
