REP PRINCIPALS:
Nkechi Taifa
Director
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Nkechi Taifa has been a principal player and catalyst in the reparations movement for over forty years. A founding member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), established in 1987, Taifa served as its first Legislative Commission Chair for years, and helped provide guidance and counsel to Congressman John Conyers in the initial drafting of the federal bill, H.R. 40. She is an inaugural Commissioner of the 2015-established National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC).
Dedicated to public service throughout her career, Attorney Taifa served as an appointed Commissioner and Chair of the DC Commission on Human Rights from 2007-2014, serves on the board of the DC Corrections Information Council, and as Senior Fellow with the Center for Justice at Columbia University. She served on the legal advisory team of the Legacy of the GU-272 Alliance, a group of descendants seeking remedy from Georgetown University for the sale of their ancestors “down the river” to save the University from bankruptcy.
Nkechi Taifa led the 1990 successful effort to have the DC City Council pass a resolution in support of H.R. 40 – the federal bill to establish a commission to study the issue of reparations and make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies. She was at the forefront of efforts before the turn of the century that resulted in city councils and organizations across the country to pass similar H.R. 40 endorsement resolutions.
Nkechi has articulated the issue of reparations in brain-trusts before the U.S. Congress and testified on reparations in hearings before the Council of the District of Columbia, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and U.S. Helsinki Commission. She has written extensively on reparations, including a seminal law review article published in the Columbia Journal of Race and Law (2020), and co-authored a book, Reparations Yes (1987) with Chokwe Lumumba and Imari Obadele. She is the author of a memoir, Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice, along with a forthcoming book, Reparations on Fire: How and Why It’s Spreading Across America.
Kibibi Tyehimba is skilled in program development and management, event organizing, and funds management. She is a lifetime member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), has served in the organization’s leadership positions at the city, region, and national levels and has successfully organized numerous events designed to increase support for reparations.
From 2005-2009 she served as N’COBRA’s National Female Co-Chair, organizing major events that increased support for reparations, increased coalition membership, and raised funds for coalition operations. She mobilized direct action events that confronted corporations with documented history of profiting from the enslavement of African people in the US and chaired monthly Board of Directors meetings.
From 2002 – 2004 she served as N’COBRA’s National Legislative Commission Co-Chair, and succeeded in developing and expanding local, state, regional, and national legislative strategies to gain support for African descendants’ demand for reparations. She organized events to gain support for the H.R.40 federal reparations bill, Congressional members’ sponsorship of H.R. 40., and local and state resolutions supporting H.R.40 and reparations. She frequently collaborated with H.R. 40 Sponsor Congressman John Conyers' office and ensured that the annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Week included Reparations Brain Trusts that increased reparations awareness and support. The Brain Trusts featured reparations activists and organizers, historians, and specialists focusing on injury areas substantiating the demand for reparations.
Kibibi Tyehimba
Program Manager
REP BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
REP ADMIN TEAM:
Mariama Taifa-Seitu
Researcher
Mariama Taifa-Seitu received her Master’s degree from the School of Public Engagement at the New School, specializing in international affairs with a concentration in economic development. She received her BA in Journalism from Temple University’s School of Media and Communications. Her graduate thesis research focused on how institutional racism deprives communities of the opportunities for expanding human capabilities in the U.S., such as a right to life, education, and political participation. This research used the framework of the Program of Activities of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent.
Mariama has served as an editor and writer for the Publication System Office of the Defense Health Agency, worked as a researcher for the Justice Roundtable and The Taifa Group, and consulted with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Oforiwa Idawa
Assistant
Oforiwa Idawa pursued a Master’s in Business Administration degree from the Strayer University, with a concentration in marketing. She received her BA in Black/Africana Studies from City University of New York. Oforiwa is passionate and deeply interested in cultural and political community organizing.
As a website designer and Event/ Social Media Management Consultant, for over ten years, she discovered that she found the greatest joy working with clients who are committed to positively addressing issues that impacts our community. She loves being a part of contributing to a cause that uplifts our community, using her skills to help make a difference.
Throughout the years, as a community activist, she has worked with several national organizations committed to the uplifting and empowering as many disenfranchised Black communities as possible.
Yao Brewer
Documentary Producer
Willie “Yao” Brewer is a DCTV award winning film-maker who produces short, original community-based documentaries that capture riveting reality stories. He is a multi-talented “one-man band.” Born and raised in Southwest, Washington, D.C., Yao is a Howard University graduate with degrees in Music Education at the Masters and Bachelor levels.
He began his documentary film-making career twenty-five years after working as an instrumental music teacher in the DC Public Schools. The digital information age is making it possible for documentary film-makers to use more creativity and technologies to enhance comprehensive stories.
With Yao’s work, the entire viewing public becomes an eyewitness or primary resource as he documents stories that encourage positive and uplifting perspectives.
Dr. Akmal Muwwakkil
Health & Wellness Consultant
Dr. Akmal is President and Founder of the Energy Institute of the Healing Arts Foundation and the Healen Arts Wellness Studio. He is an herbalist with a Ph.D. in Nutrition, and is a licensed Acupuncturist, a Massage Therapist, a Tui Na medical bodywork specialist, an Auricular Detoxification expert, and a Qi Gong master.
Dr. Akmal has developed the REPAIRative Healing Justice Program, a system that enhances the well-being of mind, body and soul, and works toward eliminating the Racial Health Gap through lectures, demonstrations, seminars, workshops and master classes. He has successfully guided clients in their ability to reduce, reverse and eliminate health disharmonies, and is dedicated to increasing the health knowledge of underserved communities through self-care programs that optimize wellness and longevity.
Nana Malaya Rucker
REP’s Cultural Arts & Celebrity Ambassador
Celebrity Mom Nana Malaya, aka The Dancing Diplomat, Okomfo Enum Oparabea and Queen Mother Etonde, is internationally known as an actress, dancer, songstress, playwright, storyteller, spoken word artist, director, choreographer, and teacher.
She is the mother of six children, including movie and TV actor Lamman Rucker, famous for starring in Oprah Winfrey Network’s “Greenleaf," Tyler Perry’s "Why Did I Get Married” and "Meet the Browns,” BET’s "The Black Hamptons,” and more.
