AFRO — The Cryptocurrency for Reparations

PRINCE RAMSES
6 min readNov 8, 2021

For Us By Us

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Our goal is to bring about the complete independence of people of African descent here in the Western Hemisphere, and first here in the United States, and bring about the freedom of the people by any means necessary.” — Malcolm X

Why?

Nearly every African American has heard the phrase “40 Acres & A Mule.” It refers to Special Field Order №15, by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on January 16, 1865, during the American Civil War, to allot land to freed African Americans, in plots of land no larger than 40 acres. Sherman later ordered the army to give mules as well. The orders followed a series of conversations between Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and abolitionists Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens. One surprising fact most people don’t know is that those 40 acres & a mule were given and only then taken away & reversed after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln during the Reconstruction era.

Today this wound has compounded literally and figuratively the plight of African Americans. At the end of slavery the average African American was worth $20K that number today is $17.5K, a decrease of 12.5%. The racial wealth gap has grown so significantly that the average white person is worth 10X the average African American around $175K. Everyday reparations aren’t given, the racial wealth gap continues to grow.

Yet the battle for Reparations hasn’t gone unfought either. John Conyers of Michigan introduced The Act HR 40 in 1989, and successively introduced it in each Congress until his retirement 30 years later. It’s now been 32 years and the bill not only hasn’t been passed but even if it were it is just to study reparations not even to issue it. Thus we think despite his efforts this wait is too long and justice has been denied.

Based on research by Darity & ​​Mullen, they estimated $2.5T as the number for reparations calculated from the initial 40 acres and mule that was promised. BET Founder Rob Johnson has made a $14T plan for Reparations based on housing, education, and more. After The 2020 Census was conducted we know the USA has 46.9 million African Americans, almost 47M. Of those 90% of African Americans are descendants of Slaves, 80% own smartphones, and only 35% oppose Reparations. Our goal for AFRO could provide $175,000 in Reparations to 47M African Americans a total market cap of $8 trillion 225 billion, which would make it the top cryptocurrency by Market Cap.

African Americans are among the fastest adopters of cryptocurrency. Also 44% of active traders are African American and 9M African Americans own Crypto. We can build on this foundation and issue AFRO as our solution to Reparations. Finally, at best we close the Racial wealth gap and the worst case even if we achieve 10% of our goal by issuing AFRO to ~ 5M African Americans, AFRO could still be among The Top 3 Cryptocurrencies in the world increase African American wealth by nearly $1T and a growth of 20%. That said, any progress on reparations to close this racial wealth gap is better than no reparations at all.

How?

By applying MIT’s solution to DARPA’s Red Balloon Challenge for Time Critical Social Mobilization, we can perform verifications without expensive upfront costs.

MIT’s solution to DARPA’s Red Balloon Challenge for Time Critical Social Mobilization

Our Technology Implementation:

  1. Form: https://bit.ly/AFROS
  2. IFTTT: https://ifttt.com/applets/dYRiEvd9-automating-afro-verification
  3. DAO: https://juicebox.money/#/p/afrodao
  4. Apps: Coming Soon

Our Technology implementation will be a four-phased approach. Firstly, a Form will be used to start building the AFRO Community. Secondly, IFTTT (If This Then That) automates the verification process. Thirdly, a DAO will be established to maintain and update AFRO for posterity. Smart Contracts will be used to automate distribution of AFRO. Quantum Democracy will be used for Voting. Finally, we will create 3 Apps: Web, iOS, and Android that will bring the AFRO Community together, allow in-app voting and a marketplace where AFRO can be spent & earned.

(Time v AFRO Holders) | Even if it takes us a presidential term we can issue reparations ourselves

What?

Get your AFRO faster than you can say “Reparations for 40 Acres & A Mule.” Once you have been verified & receive your AFRO, you can invite others and earn 10 AFRO for every person you help join the AFRO Community. Our goal is to start with Reparations via AFRO in the USA and then expand around the world for example AFRO for Jamaica, Haiti, and Nigeria to name a few. If you are an African in other countries you can help us by connecting so we can figure out how to issue AFRO in your country next. Ultimately, we can issue AFRO to everyone who is part of the African Diaspora giving ourselves Reparations with no further delay!

Kwame Ture at Howard

To get involved:

  1. Get AFRO
  2. Invite Others
  3. Help Verify
  4. Earn AFRO

Thanks & Cheers,

AFRO by Altgov

https://bit.ly/AFROS

altgovco@gmail.com

https://twitter.com/Altgovco

PS If you’d like another way to support The AFRO Community you can accept AFRO as payment and those #BlackLivesMatter Signs and Flags can mean AFRO Accepted Here! ;)

Sources

  1. 2020 Census Statistics https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/population-changes-nations-diversity.html
  2. Malcom X on Reparations https://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/mxp/speeches/mxt24.html
  3. Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
  4. Racial Wealth Gap by Netflix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqrhn8khGLM
  5. Black Americans Are Embracing Stocks and Bitcoin to Make Up for Stolen Time https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-13/black-americans-embrace-stocks-and-bitcoin-btc-to-make-up-for-stolen-time
  6. Closing The Wealth Gap: Black America And Bitcoin Adoption https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/closing-the-wealth-gap%3A-black-america-and-bitcoin-adoption-2021-10-08
  7. Why Black Investors Seemingly Prefer Cryptocurrencies Over Traditional Stocks https://www.forbes.com/sites/korihale/2021/08/10/why-black-investors-seemingly-prefer-cryptocurrencies-over-traditional-stocks/?sh=38c08a016839
  8. 40 Acres & A Mule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_acres_and_a_mule
  9. HR 40 Act ​​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_to_Study_and_Develop_Reparation_Proposals_for_African-Americans_Act#:~:text=7%20References-,History,retirement%20almost%2030%20years%20later.
  10. Darity & Mullen on Reparations https://youtu.be/oy2H9M85Jng
  11. BET Founder on Reparations https://youtu.be/0M8E346k3dw
  12. Time Critical Social Mobilization https://arxiv.org/pdf/1008.3172.pdf
  13. Quantum Democracy https://imthedronelord.medium.com/the-future-of-governance-is-in-the-cloud-4788b953054e
  14. PBS Reparations Poll http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/point-taken/blog/marist-reparations-slavery-united-states/
  15. The Economic State of Black America in 2020 https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/ccf4dbe2-810a-44f8-b3e7-14f7e5143ba6/economic-state-of-black-america-2020.pdf
  16. Disparities in Wealth by Race and Ethnicity in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/disparities-in-wealth-by-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-2019-survey-of-consumer-finances-20200928.htm
  17. MIT Solution to Red Balloon Challenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuBrUXWPuzo

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PRINCE RAMSES

Founder @Stanford Robotics Club 🤖 | CEO @MannaRobotX | Inventor by Day & Dreamer by Night! Love creating tech that empowers all