Some stories don’t fade with time—they call us to act. The call in Lansing is clear: it’s time to repair the breach. Through ten $2,500 Reparations Scholarships, the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan is answering that call with purpose and precision.
This isn’t a focus on performative equity. This is an investment in futures that have long been deferred. Applications are now open for the Justice League’s second annual Reparations Scholarship essay contest. Each award is rooted in acknowledgment, action, and access—backed by a growing fund built primarily by reparations payments from faith-based institutions that have named their historical complicity.
Graduating high school seniors in Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton counties still qualify, but a significant shift is meeting the moment: nontraditional students are now eligible. That means individuals who have earned a GED, completed high school in previous years, or finished vocational training programs can apply. The expansion opens a pathway for learners who didn’t follow the traditional route but carry the same burden of generational loss.
Prince Solace, president of the Justice League, described the intention behind that move. “The Justice League Advisory Council members want to make the program more accessible to and inclusive of their community,” he said. “The Reparations Scholarship Program is a cornerstone of our efforts to mend the historical injustices stemming from slavery and its lasting impact.”
This scholarship is not an act of charity. It is a vehicle of economic justice. It is a faith-based response to a historical sin—slavery—and the multi-generational fallout that followed. Solace made the goal unmistakably clear: “Educational empowerment for descendants of enslaved African Americans fosters a future where racial justice and faith converge to support academic achievement. Offering financial assistance is essential for enabling access to that higher education.”
Applications are due Friday, May 9, 2025. Each applicant must be a resident of Ingham, Eaton, or Clinton County. They must begin their studies at an accredited college, university, or trade school in the fall of 2025. And they must be a descendant of an enslaved African American.
That last requirement holds more weight than a checkbox. It carries with it the truth of America’s foundational contradiction—liberty for some, bondage for others. The Justice League defines descendants of enslaved Africans as individuals whose lineage includes three generations born in the United States: the applicant, a parent, and a grandparent. It is a working definition rooted in what’s often the only history Black families can access—oral testimony. Solace addressed that reality directly. “Most Black adults in the U.S. are descendants of enslaved African Americans—well over 80% per U.S. Census Bureau 2020—and learn of their history through family stories,” he said.
This inability to trace family lineage is not an accident—it’s an outcome of state-sanctioned erasure. Enslaved Black people were not recorded by name prior to 1870. Their humanity reduced to numbers in slave schedules, their existence treated as inventory. This deliberate denial of identity makes lineage difficult to prove on paper, but impossible to deny in truth.
“The ‘three-generation’ definition helps students quickly determine eligibility. Their families have felt the detriments of systemic and structural racism that are the aftermath of the sin of slavery,” Solace said. “This has prevented them from building generational wealth and hits to the core of our mission.”
The scholarship application includes a 500-word essay. This is where the statistics meet storytelling. Applicants are asked to write about how the racial wealth gap or generational wealth in America has affected their family. It’s not just an exercise in reflection—it’s a statement of lived reality. An opportunity to put into words what it means to move through life with the weight of historical theft on your shoulders.
The reparations initiative itself was born from a collective reckoning. The Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan formed in 2021 with a mission to confront the racial wealth gap head-on. This is not theoretical. This is local. This is Greater Lansing naming its role in a national wound and organizing through policy, education, and faith to stop the bleeding.
Their work is underpinned by a faith-based model of reparations. That’s not a vague spiritual gesture—it’s a financial commitment. Churches contributing to the Reparations Fund are not simply issuing statements of support. They are acknowledging that their institutions benefited from white supremacy and are committing resources to help repair what was broken.
Solace made the foundation of the Justice League’s work clear: “Reparations are in the spirit of repentance for the sin of slavery, its aftermath of gross human rights violations—including genocide, violence, land theft, incarceration and police violence—and complicity in the misbelief of white supremacy.”
Through that lens, scholarships are not handouts. They are installments in a long-overdue debt.
Beyond education, the Justice League’s broader mission includes supporting home ownership and entrepreneurship. But they’ve prioritized education because it’s a tool of liberation. And for Black Americans—especially those whose families were intentionally locked out of wealth-building for generations—education remains one of the most direct paths to mobility and restoration.
Solace’s framing matters. He isn’t asking for sympathy. He is demanding systems-level acknowledgment and structural correction. The organization’s Reparations Fund reflects a practical model for others to adopt. This is how equity can be built—not by slogans, but by sustained and intentional reinvestment in those most impacted by centuries of harm.
For those looking to apply, the full application process is hosted at JusticeLeagueGLM.org/apply. Entries can be submitted digitally or mailed. A downloadable flyer is also available to help applicants and community partners spread the word. Every detail has been designed to center accessibility and remove barriers, not erect them.
The Justice League is also laying the groundwork for what long-term accountability looks like. They are not operating from a moment of guilt or performance. This work is steady, intentional, and rooted in relationships. The partnerships between churches, community stakeholders, and applicants are built on transparency, truth, and trust. That model is worth replicating.
Ten students will receive $2,500 each. That is $25,000 directly into the hands of those who represent the descendants of this country’s original unpaid labor force. But more than that, it’s the kind of action that builds momentum. It disrupts cycles. It moves reparations from theory to practice.
This is how justice breathes—through policies that see people, through funds that acknowledge harm, through programs that refuse to let another generation be forgotten or left behind.
This time, ten young minds—or perhaps returning adult learners—will carry that torch forward. Because repair is not a favor. It’s a right. And it’s already underway in Greater Lansing.