I will
scatter them, and then I will gather them: Deuteronomy 4:27; 28:64; 32:26;
Isaiah 11:12;
Jeremiah 23:8 / Read about the African Slave Trade in Deuteronomy 28th Chapter.
REPARATIONS
NOW IN OUR LIFETIME!
N E W S L E T T E R…….#25
MARCH / APRIL 2002
*********
WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS, AND WE
OWE IT TO OUR CHILDREN TO ESTABLISH AND DEMAND BETTER LIVES FOR THEM AND FOR
OURSELVES!
*********
GIVE POWER AND MEANING TO
THE REPARATIONS MASS
MOVEMENT - GIVE OF YOURSELF!
*********
“Take
direct action against the U.S. government!” Dr. Robert Brock
*********
Note
from the REPNOW Newsletter Editor:
With the Reparations Movement back on track and in full swing since the 9/11 Attack, we should all know that many people have jumped on the Reparations BANDWAGON and have submitted lawsuits to boot. All I can say is that it’s about time! The more attention given to this our cause, the more this U.S. government and other countries that were involved in the TransAtlantic Slave Trade will realize that WE ARE VERY SERIOUS! And I hope that we will all support any and everyone for their efforts, as this DEBT is long overdue. When the Bush Administration walked out of the World Conference Against Racism, it should have been smacked with a back-hand lick at every turn so as to know that not under any circumstances are we going to relent until this Debt is paid and until Blacks can begin again to be re-established with notable dignity be it in Africa, friendly countries, or in the countries that took us captive. Make UNITY AND SOLIDARITY FOR REPARATIONS THE STAY OF EACH AND EVERY DAY! Let’s not skip a beat in this “Our” fight for the Debt due to our forebears who were enslaved under the most inhumane bondage ever recorded and due to us, their descendants, as well for our pain, suffering, forced migration, ethnic cleansing, acute misery and endless sorrows! The inequality that Descendants of Slaves experience in the countries that took our forebears captive is degrading and humiliating and purposed to emphasize the superiority of the White Society.
And since 9/11, we cannot permit the powers-that-be to deceive us into thinking that there is justice, patriotism, and unity in the United States’ fight against this “War Against TERROR.” We continue to fight against Police Terror and the terrors of RACISM and DISCRIMINATION, and especially INEQUALITY in the Black Ghettoes and the Rural South. We have our own TERRORISMS TO FIGHT right in the Good Ol’ U.S. of A and the government refuses to help us.
I was surprised to learn about people, mostly Whites, lining up for blocks to see the “Ground Zero Site” in Manhattan where once stood the Twin Towers. If people want to see real amazing destruction where human beings are living, amazingly, in dilapidation and destitution in run-down houses and sleeping on garbage-strewn streets, then people should line up to visit any one of the major cities to where the poor have no choice but to exist. Let them visit a ghetto school and compare it to one in a White School District where little White children lack nothing. And then while they are in line waiting their turn to see this devastation that Blacks have lived in since being brought to these shores, let someone ask: where is this respect for “Human Dignity” and “Human Rights” of which the United Nations and President Bush speak? Hmmm…Speaking of the United Nations, Secretary General Kofi Annan is a native of Ghana, but he is oblivious to the anguish and torment of any Blacks anywhere on this planet. I can’t figure it out!
Another
situation that seems quite ironic is that the United States is seeking the death
penalty for those involved in the 9/11 attack, but prior to that brazenly walked
out of the World Conference Against Racism rather than speak out against the
constant Israeli terrorist attacks and destruction of Palestinian
territories. As well, obviously the
last thing the United States wanted to discuss at WCAR was its hand in the
TransAtlantic Slave Trade and payment of Reparations for this merciless and
barbaric crime against Black Humanity and for the RACISM and INJUSTICE Blacks
continue to face in this country called “America the Beautiful.” But the U.S. wants justice served
for 9/11. Now, ain’t that
somethin’. We, Descendants of
Slaves, fightin’ for JUSTICE SERVED, too, but we are not looking to send anyone
to the death chambers. We
just want what’s due us – JUSTICE in the form of Reparations and Freedom for
those of us who wish to leave the lands that took us captive.
“The U.S. Walk Out” of the WCAR, whether people accept the timing or not, resulted in the 9/11 attack that then caused the U.S to call for a World Coalition to fight Terror. Do realize that this was at a time when the United States was an isolationist. How quickly the U.S. can change, and no one can beat the turn around that this country made after this attack. The U.S. appeal (or rather “demand” to those receiving U.S. tax dollars) went out to every single nation on this planet to help it fight Terror, and stated something to the effect that: “IF YOU ARE NOT WITH US, THEN YOU ARE AGAINST US!” It seemingly pays to have the funds to manipulate nations – hmmm our money, nonetheless.
One White European young adult asked Secretary of State Colin Powell while addressing an MTV presentation, how it felt to represent the “Satan of all policies.” I nearly fell off my seat. Had this young adult been a Muslim, I wouldn’t have given it much thought, but she was a full-blooded-blond European, which says quite a lot about what these Whites think about the United States - which ain’t much.
Maybe the U.S. will pay Reparations just so that we will keep our mouths shut about the newly coined phrase: “Satan of all policies.” Hey, I’ll buy that, but first, SHOW ME THE MONEY! Until then, Descendants of Slaves must get on the horn and speak out, and get involved in every way possible in order that Reparations for Descendants of Slaves not be forgotten but be paid IN OUR LIFETIME. And don’t let the Blacks in government and other strategic positions forget this, either!
Since the Bush Administration would not listen to us at WCAR, let’s make them hear us loud and clear in the media, the courts, and in government. If only the Black Caucus would institute a Filibuster for Reparations, the length of our fight would be cut in half. What has this Caucus (that is supposed to represent Black People) got to lose.
Below is
the WebSite to the REPARATIONS CENTRAL that truly provides links
to the “Best” information on organizations involved in the Reparations
Movement. If you are one of the
“Best,” and you don’t see the name of your organization list at this WebSite,
then I would suggest that you contact President Carey and find out why not.
Gregory Carey,
President
P.O. Box 84551
Seattle, WA 98124
greg@carey.net
http:/www.reparationscentral.com
We
provide links to the best information about the Reparations
movement.
So, says President Carey: The Struggle Continues, and if you care
to make a tax-deductible contribution to Reparations Central, please send
it to the information listed above.
Again, let’s try to support ALL in this our
fight for Reparations by giving of yourself!
Tziona Yisrael, Editor
REPARATIONS NOW IN OUR LIFETIME Newsletter
www.thelawkeepers.org
(Click on
“Repnow”)
*********
FARMER-PAELLMAN NOT AFRAID OF
HUGE CORPORATIONS
February
21, 2002
Deadria
Farmer-Paellmann has spent five years digging for evidence that ties Corporate
America to pre-Civil War slavery. She confronted Aetna in
2000.
NEW YORK — Her husband, who's German and white,
didn't believe her. So they played a game.
They'd go to a store and each make a purchase with a
credit card. Inevitably, she had to produce a picture ID and give her address;
he was rung up, no questions asked.
"Sometimes I tell (sales clerks), 'Hey, slavery's
over. Black people have money now,' " says Deadria
Farmer-Paellmann.
Slavery is anything but over for
Farmer-Paellmann, 36, a researcher and mother of one. For five years, she has
spent hours online and in archives hunting evidence that ties Corporate America
to pre-Civil War slavery.
Various documents link
modern companies to antebellum slavery. Reporter James Cox takes a look
at the evidence and the companies' responses.
· Activists
challenge corporations that they say are tied to slavery
Despite having no outside financial backing, she
rocked the insurance industry in 2000 by confronting Aetna with evidence it had
insured the lives of slaves for slaveholders. That prompted California to
require other insurers to search archives for slave
policies.
Aetna issued a public apology in March
2000.
Farmer-Paellmann says she has identified about 60
companies that profited from slavery. She says she has taken her findings to nine — banks,
insurers and a textile maker — and one estate. So far, none has made a public
apology or agreed to her suggestion to put together a reparations
plan.
If corporations with slaves in their past ever do pay
reparations, Farmer-Paellmann can take much credit, says Charles Ogletree, the
Harvard law professor heading a group looking to file reparations lawsuits. "The idea of corporate involvement has always been
raised in the reparations movement," he says. "But I don't think anybody has
been as conscientious or as thorough as Deadria. She is the key factor in making these
(legal) claims come to life."
Farmer-Paellmann says slavery lives on, its
legacy seen in everything from housing discrimination to racial profiling to
police brutality. The quest
for compensation and an apology "torments a lot of African-Americans. And it's
not because of the money. Our ancestors were kidnapped, whipped, tortured,
forced to breed."
She was intrigued by the idea of a national apology
and federal restitution for descendants of slaves. She got a law degree just so
she could learn legal theories and prepare a reparations case that would be
persuasive in court.
But in 1997, she decided the American public wasn't
ready for a national reparations bill, and there were too many legal obstacles
in suing the government. So she shifted her focus.
"I don't think people are very sympathetic toward
multibillion-dollar corporations that profited from slavery," she says. "People don't put up a wall when you
talk about reparations from companies."
Farmer-Paellmann is negotiating with law firms and
may file lawsuits separate from those brought by Ogletree's
team. She hopes to pick a firm that
could represent her as a plaintiff, bring her on to help with research or
both.
The Aetna case brought her notoriety and
credibility among the lawyers, academics and civil rights activists pursuing the
reparations idea. Law firms that had been cool to her idea of class-action
lawsuits suddenly showed interest.
None of it appears to have lessened the sting she
felt as a little girl growing up in the predominantly white Bensonhurst neighborhood of Queens in the '70s
and '80s.
"Sometimes racism is subtle," she says. "But when
someone throws a crate at you and calls you 'nigger,' there's not much
doubt."
Even now, she says, there are daily slights. The
extra ID check at the store. The way restaurants direct her to a back table.
They are part of what fuels her belief that slavery is part of the
present.
"We're still living with the vestiges of
slavery," she says. "Most black folks, unless they're living in la-la land,
could tell you about an incident every day of their
lives."
By James Cox & Todd Plitt, USA
TODAY
***
FIRMS
OWN DAILIES THAT WERE VITAL TO SLAVE ECONOMY
Various documents
link modern companies to antebellum slavery. Reporter James Cox takes a
look at the evidence and the companies' responses.
Activists
challenge corporations that they say are tied to slavery
Many of the USA's largest newspaper companies own
dailies that were vital to the slave economy. Antebellum-era newspapers ran ads
that promised reward money for the capture of escaped slaves, offered slaves for
sale or sought slaves for purchase.
"Cash
for Negroes" proclaimed an 1856 ad in
The Sun, today The Baltimore Sun, owned by Tribune
Co.
"Stop
the Runaway" urged an 1849 ad in
The Georgia Telegraph, today Knight Ridder's The Macon
Telegraph.
Similar ads were carried by The Memphis Daily
Appeal, forerunner of E.W. Scripps' The Commercial Appeal; in The
Daily Dispatch, which became Media General's Richmond Times-Dispatch;
in The Daily Picayune, today The Times-Picayune of New Orleans,
owned by Advance Publications.
Gannett,
publisher of USA TODAY, also owns
newspapers that carried slave ads. Among them: The Montgomery Daily
Advertiser, now The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser; and The
Louisville Daily Journal, today The Courier-Journal of
Louisville.
Freddie Parker, chairman of the North Carolina
Central University history department, says newspapers were a key marketplace
for buyers and sellers of slaves and were strong voices in support of
slavery.
The
Hartford Courant, a
Tribune newspaper, acknowledged in 2000
that it had run such ads. It apologized for "any involvement by our predecessors
at The Courant in the terrible practice of buying and selling human
beings. "
Knight Ridder declined to comment on slave ads in its
Macon newspaper. Advance
Publications referred calls to Ashton Phelps, publisher of New Orleans'
Times-Picayune. He refused to comment.
In a statement, Tribune calls slave ads in the
Hartford Courant and Baltimore's The Sun
"regrettable." It says its flagship
Chicago Tribune fought to end slavery, adding that the Hartford and
Baltimore newspapers have more recently "worked diligently for civil rights and
human dignity."
Media General acknowledges its Richmond newspaper ran
slave ads. But "we did not own the Richmond Times-Dispatch at the time
these activities occurred. It makes
it very difficult to discuss decisions that were made by people who were not
involved in anything related to Media General," spokeswoman Lou Anne Nabhan
says.
Scripps says only that it came to own many of its
current newspapers "beyond the period in question."
In a statement, Gannett says it didn't own
newspapers during the slave era. It says shareholders shouldn't be responsible —
"morally or financially" — for what was published then. "Reparations and
apologies present overwhelming practical — and logical — problems. The better
course is to focus on understanding the lasting effects of slavery and racism on
our society. Gannett is justifiably proud of its record in this
regard."
*********
SUIT
SEEKS BILLIONS IN SLAVE REPARATIONS
March 26, 2002
Farmer-Paellmann:
"These are corporations that benefitted from stealing
people."
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Attorneys for a
former law student, who discovered evidence linking U.S. corporations to the
slave trade, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday that could seek billions of dollars
in reparations for the descendants of slaves in America.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in
Brooklyn names FleetBoston Financial, the railroad firm CSX and the Aetna
insurance company, and promises to name up to 100 additional corporations at a
later date.
It accuses the companies of conspiracy,
human rights violations, unjust enrichment from their corporate predecessors'
roles in the slave trade and conversion of the value of the slaves' labor into
their profits.
"These are corporations that benefited
from stealing people, from stealing labor, from forced breeding, from torture,
from committing numerous horrendous acts, and there's no reason why they should
be able to hold onto assets they acquired through such horrendous acts," said
Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, the main plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Farmer-Paellmann said she learned of
Aetna's role in insuring slaves in legal classes, and then asked Aetna for old
policies documenting the practice, which Aetna provided to her.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 35
million African-Americans. It seeks financial payments for the value of "stolen"
labor and unjust enrichment and calls for the companies to give up "illicit
profits." The
plaintiffs are also seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
The
lawsuit does not seek a specific dollar amount, but estimates slaves performed
as much as $40 million worth of unpaid labor between 1790 and 1860. The current
value of that labor could be as high as $1.4 trillion
The lawsuit alleges that Aetna's
corporate predecessor "insured human slave owners against the loss of their
human chattel."
In response, Aetna released a statement
saying, "We do not believe a court would permit a lawsuit over events which
-- however regrettable -- occurred hundreds of years ago. These issues in no way
reflect Aetna today."
The lawsuit notes that FleetBoston is a successor to Providence Bank, which it says was founded by Rhode Island slave trader John Brown. FleetBoston had no immediate comment on the suit.
The suit alleges that CSX, based in
Richmond, Virginia, is a successor to numerous railroads that were built or run,
at least in part, by slave labor.
In a statement, CSX said the suit is
"wholly without merit and should be dismissed. 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."
Slave reparations have been a
controversial issue. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted last month
found a wide difference of opinion on the issue between black and white
respondents.
Nine out of 10 white respondents said
the government should not make cash payments to slave descendants while 6
percent said it should.
Among black respondents, 55 percent
said the government should make cash payments and 37 percent said it should
not.
The poll surveyed 1,001 adults -- 820
of them white and 146 black -- February 8-10. The poll had a margin of error of plus
or minus 9 percentage points for black respondents and plus or minus 4 percent
points for white respondents. The percentages differ because of the difference
in the number of people surveyed.
The same people were asked if
corporations that made profits from slavery should apologize to
African-Americans. Among blacks, 68 percent said they should while 23 percent
said they should not. Among whites, 32 percent said they should and 62 percent
said they should not.
Three-fourths of black respondents said
the companies should set up scholarship funds for descendants of slaves and 20
percent said they should not. Among white respondents, 35 percent of respondents
said they favored the scholarship funds while 61 percent said they were opposed.
*********
March 27, 2002
NEW YORK
(AP) -- A woman whose ancestors were slaves sued three companies for allegedly
profiting from slavery for nearly two centuries -- a long-simmering concept that
could pick up steam if more blacks are allowed to join the
lawsuits.
Plaintiffs' lawyers said the lawsuits were the first
to seek slavery reparations from private companies. They were filed against the
Aetna insurance company, the FleetBoston financial services group and railroad
giant CSX on behalf of the 35 million American descendants of African
slaves.
At a news conference announcing the lawsuits Tuesday,
Deadria Farmer-Paellmann said she spent five years researching the topic after
writing on her law school application that her dream was to build the case that
would win slavery reparations.
She said she became interested in the quest as she
listened to her grandparents, including descriptions of her
great-great-grandmother's escape from a rice plantation on the eve of the Civil
War, when she stole a boat and ran away, surviving two weeks in swamps.
Farmer-Paellmann graduated from law school in 2000.
``My grandfather always talked about the 40 acres
and a mule we were promised and never given,'' said Farmer-Paellmann, who
was the only plaintiff identified in the lawsuits.
The three suits, which seek unspecified damages,
claimed that as many as 1,000 unidentified corporations may have benefited from
slavery between 1619 and 1865.
The lawsuits seek class-action status and could be expanded to include more
companies.
Lawyer Ed Fagan said a series of Holocaust lawsuits
he helped settle for $8 billion had blazed the legal trail for the slavery
action by setting a precedent in making banks and insurance companies pay damage
to victims.
Any damages won from the lawsuit would be put into a
fund to improve health, education and housing opportunities for blacks, said
attorney Roger Wareham, one of a group of lawyers who prepared the
lawsuits.
``This is not about individuals receiving checks in
their mailbox,'' Wareham said.
The lawsuits say slavery is a wound that fails to
heal, condemning blacks in America to more poverty, unemployment, poor education
and clashes with the justice system than other Americans. ``They lag behind
whites according to every social yardstick: literacy, life expectancy,
income and education,'' the lawsuits say. ``They are more likely to be murdered
and less likely to have a father at home.''
In a statement, Aetna said: ``We do not believe a
court would permit a lawsuit over events which -- however regrettable --
occurred hundreds of years ago. These issues in no way reflect Aetna
today.''
CSX said the lawsuits had no merit and should be
dismissed.
``Slavery was a tragic chapter in our nation's
history,'' the company said in a statement. ``It is a history shared by every
American, and its impacts cannot be attributed to any single company or
industry.''
Fleet spokesman James Mahoney said the company had
not seen the lawsuits and had no comment.
CSX said it was named as a defendant 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.''
Farmer-Paellmann said Aetna, in particular, was
cooperative in her research, but that changed when she started speaking publicly
about planned litigation. Company
documents showed one-third of Aetna's first 1,000 policies were written on
the lives of slaves, she said.
Farmer-Paellmann said the filing was victory enough
for one day.
``I feel confident that something good will come of
all of this,'' she said.
Enslavement
of Africans in America began in the 1600s. It was not officially abolished in
the United States until the 13th amendment was ratified, in
1865.
Reparation supporters point to recent cases where
groups have been compensated in cash for historic indignities and
harm.
A letter of formal apology and $20,000 were given by
the U.S. government to each Japanese-American held in internment camps during
World War II.
And in October 2000, Austria established a $380
million fund to compensate tens of thousands of Nazi-era slave laborers who were
born in six eastern European countries.
But reparation opponents argue that victims in the
Nazi and Japanese-American cases were directly harmed while many generations
separate enslaved blacks and their modern-day descendants.
In addition, those opposed to reparations say it
isn't fair for taxpayers and corporations who never owned slaves to be burdened
with possible multibillion-dollar settlements.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Slave-Reparations.html?ex=1018252873&ei=1&en=1fc160ffa3e552f5
Submitted by [BRC-REP]
From: pka@cwjamaica.com
Reply-To: IRSGroup@yahoogroups.com
***
REPARATIONS
SOLIDARITY FROM JAMAICA
March 28, 2002
Greetings All!
This lawsuit is wonderful because of the
international attention it has brought to the issue of
Reparations. America has
several legal suits on Reparations upcoming, including one to the government
which our IRSGroup member Professor Charles Ogletree is involved. Clearly the walls of Jericho will not
fall down unless there is a great deal of SHOUTING from all sides. We are
pleased therefore with Mrs. Farmer Paellman's action and wish her every strength
and success.
There are parallels in this case, which we
in Jamaica may wish to emulate, but mostly I think we need to watch it develop
while we develop our own case or cases specifically relevant to our Caribbean
and Jamaican situation.
The suit by Jamaica's Miguel Lorne against the Queen of England is another
legal case which bears watching and there are others emanating from the Jamaican
Rastafari community which are also pending.
Let us follow and give all support by
writing letters to the newspapers, speaking on radio and in our communities in
support of this case.
ONE LOVE
Makeda
Submitted
by brc-reparations@yahoogroups.com
*********
INCUMBENT
MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND
CANDIDATES MUST BE CHALLENGED ON THEIR
COMMITMENTS
TOWARDS SELF-DETERMINATION
AND
REPARATIONS…
There is much work to do to build our
movement for Reparations and lay claim to our Victory, in the coming weeks and
months. On our present
agenda are the congressional elections in every district. All incumbent members of the House of
Representatives and candidates, and indeed, persons running for any elective
office, must be challenged on their commitment and past practice towards
Self-Determination and Reparations for Afrikan people. No one should get a pass. Those on the east coast can join N’COBRA
and other organizations for our A Year of Black Presence (AYBP) kick-off event
in Philadelphia, this coming Friday, 1 March, 7 pm, at the Mother Bethel AME
Church. The church is located at
419 S. 6th Street, in Philly. Our
AYBP Campaign aims to mobilize thousands upon thousands of our people across
this land to daily go to Capitol Hill in the upcoming congress to jointly raise
the demand for Reparations. The
goal is a hearing and then passage of H.R. 40, The Commission to Study
Reparations PROPOSALS Act, sponsored by Elder Congressman John Conyers of
Michigan. More AYBP are being
planned for other areas in the near future.
Your organization or temple still has until 31 March
(New Afrikan Nation Day) to nominate a representative for election to the
NCOBRA-led Congress of Economic Development Commissioners (EDC). Phase
one of the EDC elections was held in 6239 (1999) in a number of cities,
including Chicago, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, St. Louis, and other areas. The tasks of our elected EDCs are to: 1)
help raise public awareness of the Reparations movement; 2) solicit mass input
and compile responses to N’COBRAs initial downpayment demands; and, 3) begin
planning with our broader community how Reparations should be used to best heal
our people. This years elections
will take place Friday through Sunday, 26-28 April. To get additional
information and forms contact the EDC Election Project, chaired by Sister
Johnita Scott, at P.O. Box 75437, Baton Rouge, LA 70874; or by email at 105216.150@compuserve.com
On 4 April, N’COBRAs youth and student
leaders are once again organizing a Walk-Out Against Government Murder WALK-ON
FOR REPARATIONS, in honor of DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Last year, activists held actions on campuses and in communities from
Houston to Atlanta to New York to Oakland and numerous areas in-between. Contact Sister Taiwo Kugichagulia-Seitu
at taiwoks@hotmail.com for help in organizing your action.
Speaking of young leaders, all roads lead to
Detroit, where the new Mayor is 30 year-old Brother Kwame
Kilpatrick. From 21-23
June, N’COBRA will hold its 13th Annual Convention and a National Reparations
and Leadership Summit. WE also are
readying to file our class-action lawsuit for Reparations as soon as WE
collectively raise the funds to sustain the mighty challenge in our oppressors
courts. More exciting events are
also being confirmed. So make your plans to attend. Of course, WE will use the opportunity
to build momentum for the African Union founding in South Afrika in July; the
African and African Descendants Caucus Gathering in Barbados come August; and
the Millions for Reparations March on MARCUS GARVEY DAY (17 August), in
Washington.
Sisters and Brothers, WE invite your
participation in this movement. No
doubt about it. WE are growing
larger and, potentially, more powerful with each day.
Let us get democratically organized. May WE all do our part to make this, and
everyday, a Reparations Awareness-Action-and-Unity Day, especially, most
especially, among the people closest to our circles. Ase`. Amen.
Hotep, Love and Continued
Blessings,
Brother Jahahara
Brother
Jahahara Alkebulan-Maat is the National Co-Chair of the National Coalition of
Blacks for Reparations (N’COBRA), and the editor of REPARATIONS, NOW:
Justice! Self-Determination! Healing!
Reach him at NuAfrikan@aol.com or NCOBRAnyc@aol.com
*********
March 26, 2002
REPARATIONS
SOUGHT FROM U.S. FIRMS FOR SLAVERY
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
By Christian Wiessner
WWW.MAWASI.COM -
AFROCENTRIC.INFO
Submitted by
JELPO@AOL.COM
***
DOES
FLEET BANK OF BOSTON (AND OTHERS)
OWE
REPARATIONS?
February 22, 2002
FleetBoston Financial Corp. will be one of
the first targets of a group that wants apologies and financial reparations from
companies with historical ties to the pre-Civil War slave
trade.
``The critical thing for people to
understand is that we are trying to tell the story of what happened with
(slavery),'' Alexander
Pires, a Washington lawyer working on a lawsuit against Fleet and other
companies, said yesterday.
Fleet, he said, is part of the story because
of its connection to John Brown, an 18th century Rhode Island merchant, slave
trader and namesake of Brown University.
Brown was part of a group that chartered
Providence Bank, one of the early predecessors of what is now Fleet. Fleet
yesterday downplayed that historic connection.
``The bank was one of hundreds that created
Fleet,'' said Fleet spokesman James Mahoney. ``The link between Fleet and Brown
is extremely remote.''
He declined further comment.
Pires could not specify the connection
between Fleet's past and slavery, other than that Brown was a known slave
trader.
``The critical thing for people to
understand is that we are trying to tell the story of what happened with
(slavery),'' Alexander
Pires, a Washington lawyer working on a lawsuit against Fleet and other
companies, said yesterday.
Fleet, he said, is part of the story because
of its connection to John Brown, an 18th century Rhode Island merchant, slave
trader and namesake of Brown University.
Brown was part of a group that chartered
Providence Bank, one of the early predecessors of what is now Fleet. Fleet
yesterday downplayed that historic connection.
``The bank was one of hundreds that created
Fleet,'' said Fleet spokesman James Mahoney. ``The link between Fleet and Brown
is extremely remote.''
He declined further comment.
Pires could not specify the connection
between Fleet's past and slavery, other than that Brown was a known slave
trader.
Other companies identified by the
Reparations Coordinating Committee as historically tied to slavery are Aetna
Inc., New York Life Insurance Co., American International Group Inc. and J.P.
Morgan Chase & Co. Among the reparations group are prominent Harvard
professors Charles Ogletree and Cornel West.
Dozens more are expected eventually to be
targeted by the group as research continues on combinations that have occurred
over the centuries.
For Fleet, the story stretches back to 1791,
when Brown and others founded Providence Bank.
The bank retained its identity until 1954,
when it was bought by Industrial National Bank. As Industrial National grew, it
became Fleet Financial Group in 1982.
Fleet bought BankBoston in 1999, creating
FleetBoston Financial.
The slavery reparations movement seeks
everything from apologies to financial payments for descendants of slaves.
Critics say it is unfair to exact money from
people and firms today for slavery, which ended with the Civil War 137 years
ago.
Pires, who won a $1 billion settlement from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture for discrimination against black farmers,
would not say when he expects to bring a case to court.
He said the lawyers working on it -
including Johnnie Cochran, of O.J.
Simpson case fame - have met regularly, but haven't decided which court
to go to with the case.
``Just say that a couple of hundred years
ago, blacks were in charge, and they went over to Ireland or Italy and said,
`Hey, this looks like a cheap labor source,' and hauled 5 million people back to
build Boston and Rhode Island and New England,'' said Pires, who was raised in Easton.
``Now, today, people in Boston would want the story told the way it really
happened.''
The Boston Herald
www.businesstoday.com/business/business/flee02222002.htm
Submitted by brc-reparations@yahoogroups.com
*********
COMMISSION
ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty-eighth
session
Item 14 (b) of the
provisional agenda
SPECIFIC
GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS:
MINORITIES
Written statement* submitted
by All For Reparation and Emancipation (AFRE),
a non-governmental
organization on the Roster
The Secretary-General has
received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with
Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.
[14 January
2002]
1. The United Nations
has not, as yet, recognized us: we who are the African American peoples or
nations in North, Central and South America and the Diaspora. Four hundred years
of plantation slavery and its lingering effects have left us deprived of and
denied our mother tongue and thus outside a definite place within the UN
system. For the past six years, on behalf of the African American people in
the United States, Mr. Silis Muhammad has traveled to the UN at Geneva to
deliver numerous prayers for recognition and restoration. He has asked that the
UN to find or make a category in which we, the African American, will fit; for
at present, we have no collective human rights.
2. In the Americas
Region and throughout the Diaspora we, who are the descendants of slaves, are
filled with dissatisfaction, and many of us do not know its source. The African
American people in the United States are perhaps the first to recognize the
source of our pain and the gravity of our situation. We know that we have been
forcibly cut off, severed from our original identity: our mother tongue,
religion and culture: those very things that give life to peoples. We have been
as "dead" for 400 years. Today we are experiencing, in reality, the process
of ethnogenesis: a word that describes the coming to life again of a people who
have been scattered, forcibly cut off, severed; now seemingly assimilated,
within the country of our domicile.
3. We have cried out in
many ways over many years for the restoration of our dignity as a people. Yet
the U.S. Government and other nations commit, daily, the international wrongful
act of denying our existence while claiming respect for human rights. It is
our desire to reconstitute ourselves and reconstruct our lost ties, with UN
assistance. It is also our desire to receive reparations from the U.S.
Government for the ongoing loss of our mother tongue and our internationally
recognized political identity.
4. We recognize that the United
Nations has made some attempts to assist us. In 1997 the Sub-Commission on
the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights passed a resolution,
#E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1997/5, in which the Sub-Commission called upon the Working
Group on Minorities to consider how the Sub-Commission in its future work might
usefully address the continuing legal, political and economic legacies of the
African slave trade, as experienced by Black communities throughout the
Americas. In 1998 the Sub-Commission again passed a resolution,
#E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1998/24, in which the Sub-Commission urged the Working Group
on Minorities to include on its agenda an item on issues related to the legacies
of the slave trade on the Black communities throughout the
Americas.
5. The Working Group on Minorities is
aware that we, the African American people, do not fit into a category within
the UN system due to the immoral slavery and its illegal lingering effects:
especially the deliberate acts of the U.S. Government. In 1998 the Working
Group assigned Mr. Jose Bengoa to write a working pa