Founded on Sept. 26, 1987, N’COBRA — a Swahili term meaning disaster — was started to broaden the base of support for the long-standing reparations movement. The organization engages in direct action to obtain reparations. It organized a highway slowdown on the Washington Metro Area Beltway in the early ’90s. Demonstrations in front of federal buildings gave rise to Reparations Awareness Day on Feb. 25. During an annual demonstration on April 4, people were asked to boycott school or work and engage in reparations education. On Black Friday, started in August 2003, people of African descent are encouraged to patronize only Black businesses on Fridays. Black businesses are asked to support reparations and principles of cooperative economics.
