Joann Watson, saying, 'Job well done my faithful servant,' and she went home to be with the Lord," Sheffield said. "Today, God called upon our beloved Mother, the Honorable Rev. The task force met for the first time in April and is expected to meet on the first Saturday of every month. We know from the overwhelming ballot approval, and they should be the ones to navigate the path forward." "It would be important for the task force to identify objectives rooted in Detroit's history and its future. "When council President Sheffield told me she'd like to appoint me, I told her I'd be honored," Watson told The News in January. She also was a contributing author to " Should America Pay," a 2003 publication on reparations edited by Raymond Winbush.Įarlier this year, she was appointed by Sheffield to lead the city's first Reparations Task Force "in honor of her life's work and dedication around the issue," Sheffield said. Wright Museum of African American History, which counted 1,000 attendees who listened to speakers like Conyers and Judge Greg Mathis. In June 2019, the NCOBRA convention, chaired by Rev. She highlighted in the interview her time serving for a decade on the board of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America and was chair of Detroit's NCOBRA chapter for seven years. Watson said that a shining moment in her life was as a 2001 Delegate to the "United Nations World Conference on Racism" held in Durban, South Africa, which declared that the " Transatlantic Slave Trade was a Crime Against Humanity and should always have been so."
In an interview with The Detroit News in January, Rev. She annually organized panelists for the Congressional Black Caucus Reparations "Braintrust" hearing. House, serving for more than half a century. Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, was the longest-serving African American member of the U.S.
John Conyers from 1997 to 2002, playing a key role in addressing HR 40, the reparations legislation sponsored by Conyers. Watson was a public policy staff director for U.S. Milton Henry Chokwe Lumumba, mayor of Jackson, Mississippi Ray "Reparations Ray" Jenkins Claud Anderson, president of Powernomics and the Harvest Institute and activist Maulana Karenga. She was mentored by advocates including activist Imari Obadele civil rights lawyer the Rev. Watson had a lengthy resume of working toward reparations initiatives. She was an on-air personality for 910 AM Superstation and the host of "Wake Up Detroit." She also worked as an associate professor at Wayne County Community College District teaching English. She had served as associate pastor at the church since 2009. She was ordained by Unity Worldwide Ministries in 2010, and since August 2018, was senior pastor at West Side Unity Church in Detroit. Watson served as board president of Unity Urban Ministerial School, from which she graduated in 2009. Watson served on a committee of six people who helped to ensure the historical and cultural accuracy of Melody, American Girl’s 9-year old African American doll from the Civil Rights Movement.Īt the time of her death, Rev. Watson was a God-loving force of a woman who made it her life’s work to lift up the voices of those who were so often silenced," Whitsett said in a statement. "She not only loved others fiercely but she fought fearlessly every day for equality and freedom." Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, said she was "shocked and heartbroken to learn that our city and our nation has lost a true public servant and freedom fighter."
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