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Activists
Stage City Hall Protest After Local Landmark Goes Missing
J.W. Peoples
says his Black Holocaust museum-on-wheels was stolen from in front
of his home
By
Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer
COMPTON – Have
you seen the Black American Slave Holocaust mobile?
With its red, black and green color scheme and message of “Reparations
Now,” it’s hard to miss.
But owner and creator J.W. Peoples is on the hunt after he says the
truck and attached trailer were stolen.
Last week, he and several fellow activists staged a small protest outside
of City Hall to raise awareness of the missing monument. It was also
an attempt to catch the attention of the city’s elected officials.
Peoples said the vehicle, which many consider a local landmark, was
parked in front of his Palmer Street home on the morning of Friday,
April 25. When he returned home just a few hours later, what some refer
to as the “slave ship” was gone.
Peoples created the museum-on-wheels in 2003. It is not his first;
he’s constructed several over the years and has taken them to
places as far away as Washington, D.C., to get the word out about his
cause.
“It’s about reparations. The movement for reparations needs
to be exposed. It’s for the people, to educate them about slavery,
the young people especially. And some of the seniors, too,” said
Peoples, a retired electrician who moved to Compton in 1975.
Not only does Peoples drive the “slave ship” float in parades
and at demonstrations and events, but he also uses it as his main form
of transportation.
Because of the size of the vehicle and attached trailer, he and some
of his supporters suspect there could be more to the situation than
it being randomly stolen by a car thief.
“It’s the equivalent of someone stealing the Statue of
Liberty to us,” said December Diefear as he hoisted signs reading “Reparations
Now!” and “Court Reform” and waved a red, black and
green flag.
“They stole our slave ship! First they stole us, now they stole
our ship,” he said.
Mollie Bell believes someone with “authority or clout” has
something to do with the missing monument.
“Where would they hide it for this long?” she said “They
would have to have the means to hide it, they would have to have the
means to drive it, and be sure that anybody around would not recognize
it.”
Code Enforcement and Sheriff’s Department officials confirmed
that the vehicle had not been towed.
Alfreda Williams, who’s lived in the Hub City since 1940, happened
by the Wednesday afternoon demonstration and was shocked to learn that
the vehicle had been stolen.
“That’s terrible,” she exclaimed. “Why would
they do it? How could they do it?”
“This is our history, our legacy. That ship is equivalent to
our Star of David, and this should be considered as a hate crime,” said
Bell.
Peoples, who met Bell during the 1992 civil unrest, agrees.
“The theft of the Holocaust Slave Ship is a crime of hate – hatred
towards blacks and their sincere desire to be healed from the wound
inflicted upon us by slavery,” he said.
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