Reparations Sought From U.S. Firms for Slavery

[c&c1913]

Reparations Sought From U.S. Firms for Slavery
Tue Mar 26, 4:19 PM ET
By Christian Wiessner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three large U.S. companies were named in a lawsuit on Tuesday filed on behalf of black Americans descended from slaves, the first-ever class action seeking reparations from firms for profiting from slavery.

Aetna Inc., CSX Corp., and FleetBoston Financial Corp. were named in the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court by 36-year-old black activist Deadria Farmer-Paellmann in the latest step by some blacks to get compensation for what their ancestors suffered as slaves.

"The practice of slavery constituted an 'immoral and inhumane deprivation of Africans' life, liberty, African citizenship rights, cultural heritage' and it further deprived them of the fruits of their own labor," the 21-page suit said.

Both Aetna and CSX said slavery was a regrettable chapter in U.S. history but the events in question occurred so long ago that a courtroom was not the proper venue to decide on reparations.

Plaintiff attorneys said 12 other companies would be getting letters in the coming days requesting a dialogue on a settlement. The other companies were not named.

The suit said yet-to-be-named corporate defendants from the industrial, manufacturing, financial and other sectors would be named in subsequent actions once they were identified.

The complaint did not contain a monetary damage figure, but did estimate the current value of slaves' unpaid labor as $1.4 trillion. The gross domestic product of the United States at the end of 2001 was $10.25 trillion.

BANK CONNECTION TO SLAVERY

"This is a case about wealth built on the back and from the sweat of African slaves," said plaintiff attorney Roger Wareham at a news conference. "We expect those companies that are targeted to stand up."

Advocates of reparations for slavery argue that the descendants of slaves are still being hurt economically and sociologically by their ancestors' bondage. Those who argue against compensation say, among other things, that it happened so long ago that reparations would be punishing people who had nothing to do with the practice of slavery.

According to the lawsuit, FleetBoston is the successor to Providence Bank, which was founded by Rhode Island businessman John Brown. Brown owned ships that embarked on several slaving voyages and the suit says FleetBoston lent substantial sums to Brown, thus financing and profiting from Brown's slave trade.

FleetBoston also collected customs fees due from ships transporting slaves, thus further profiting, the suit said.

FleetBoston did not return a call seeking comment.

The suit alleges Aetna's predecessor actually insured slaveholders against the loss of their human chattel. Aetna knew the horrors of slave life as is evident in a rider through which the company declined to make payments on slaves who were lynched, worked to death, or committed suicide.

Aetna, the No. 1 U.S. life and health insurer, said in early March it was considering making an unprecedented public apology and restitution payment over profits it made from insuring slaves in America 150 years ago.

COURTROOM 'WRONG SETTING'

On Tuesday, an Aetna spokesman said: "We have not been served with a lawsuit. We do not believe a court would permit a lawsuit over events which, however regrettable, occurred hundreds of years ago."

CSX is a successor in interest to numerous predecessor railroad lines that were constructed or run, at least in part, by slave labor, according to the suit.

CSX said in a statement that while slavery was a tragic chapter in U.S. history, the lawsuit was wholly without merit.

"The claimants named CSX because slave labor was used to construct portions of some U.S. rail lines under the political and legal system in place more than a century before CSX was formed in 1980," the company said. "The courtrooms are the wrong setting for this issue."

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial, the appointment of an independent historic commission, restitution of the descendants' slave labor, disgorgement of illicit profits and compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial.

According to the suit, over eight million Africans and their descendants were enslaved from 1619 to 1865, many brought to the Americas to work as slaves on tobacco farms, cotton and sugar plantations.

The complaint said the exact number of plaintiff class members was not yet known but it estimated the class included millions of slave descendants .

In afternoon New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) trading, Aetna shares were up 44 cents at $37.78, CSX shares were up 66 cents at 37.55, and FleetBoston shares were up 24 cents at $35.38.

Questions? Comments?

[straightBOS]

Will we ever stop begging for this or that?

Will we ever stop trying to profit from slavery?

If we want success and economic independence, we must do it BY OURSELVES. We cannot acheive that waiting and begging to be acknowledged-- especially for work we never perofrmed.

[brainzandbeauty]

I'm curious to see how all of this will play out in the Court System. Personally, I have no desire to get reparations... profitting financially from my ancestors blood, sweat and tears sickens me.

Besides, African-Americans contribute about $400 million in *consumer* spending with their own money.... I cannot imagine what we would do with those paychecks. They would be a temporary fix at best.

All the problems that exist now, will continue to plague us... it will take more than reparations to undo centuries of social and economic oppression.

Oh..another thought... what about all the *white* people who descended from slaves.. their great-great great grandmother or grandfather, something like that... legally they may also make a case. This could turn into one big mess.

[Virtual Violet]

Check this out! The Plaintiff, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann and her attorneys spoke with Matt Lauer on "The Today Show"

Listen and weigh in.

http://www.msnbc.com/m/c/ctv_emailth...bc&sl=&0mw=x92

[Urbane]

I had an interesting conversation with my white co-worker about this yesterday and these questions came up. An article about this case in The Economists stated that per polls (no mention of which ones or how many) show that 70% of whites object to even a public apology for slavery. If the courts rule in the favor of reparations, what affect will it have on the black/white relations? Will this hurt us, if so, how much?

We started talking about slavery as a whole and he’s view is that he’s an Irish-American and had nothing to do with the oppression of black people and/or slavery… it happened a long time and we(black people) won’t let it go. Mind you this was a civil not a heated discussion/debate and my response was.. would you form your lips to say the exact same thing to a Jewish Holocaust survivor or any descent of one? After further convo, he finally understood and I felt satisfied. Is it simply the acknowledgement that we’re looking for?

What are your thoughts?

[nyhune]

Good Afternoon sorors and SF's: Here's the latest in the Richmond, VA area. Apparently a father did his daughter's taxes and figured he would "try" a trick to see if it works. He filed her taxes and completed form 2439 to get a credit for slave reparations. He didn't think it would go through because she only had $4G in income for the year,but it worked and the IRS sent this lady a check for the $500,000. plus interest because they were late in processing her refund. She received a check for $507,534.95. Once the IRS realized their mistake, they requested a repayment and the lady refused. Half the dang $ was spent on payment of student loans, $100G to her dad for doing her taxes, and a 1999 Benz E430. The government has filed a suit against the lady and her dad. Apparently once the daughter got paid, the dad started telling his friends and they all got paid for a total of about $4 million.

This is not a joke, it was in today's Richmond Times Dispatch...

What are your thoughts? If you got the $ what would you do? I'll wait for some responses before I reply.