Posté le: Mer 13 Juil 2005 19:49 Sujet du message: Reparation thread
NAACP to target private business
By Brian DeBose
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 12, 2005
MILWAUKEE -- The NAACP will target private companies as part of its economic agenda, seeking reparations from corporations with historical ties to slavery and boycotting companies that refuse to participate in its annual business diversity report card.
"Absolutely, we will be pursuing reparations from companies that have historical ties to slavery and engaging all parties to come to the table," Dennis C. Hayes, interim president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said yesterday at the group's 96th annual convention here.
"Many of the problems we have now including poverty, disparities in health care and incarcerations can be directly tied to slavery."
The group's strategy will include a lobbying effort to encourage cities to enact laws requiring businesses to complete an extensive slavery study and submit it to the city before they can get a city contract.
Such laws exist in Philadelphia and Chicago, which can refuse to grant contracts because of a company's slavery ties although neither city has done this. Detroit and New Orleans are considering similar bills.
"We need legislation with teeth," Adjoa Aiyetoro, professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's school of law, said during a session on reparations.
She said two banks trying to do business with Chicago have recently apologized for their role in slavery and promised to make amends by offering scholarships to blacks and money for other education projects that benefit blacks.
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank recently completed an examination of its history and found that two financial institutions it absorbed years ago -- Citizens Bank and Canal Bank in Louisiana -- had owned more than 1,250 black people until the Civil War, procured as collateral on defaulted loans.
The company apologized and officials said it will start a $5 million scholarship program for children in Louisiana.
Wachovia Corp. was accused by a Chicago alderman of lying last month when it submitted its statement in January stating it had no knowledge of any involvement with slavery. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company later apologized and indicated that it would create an education fund or contribute money toward black history education.
"They did the right thing in acknowledging it and taking the first step forward towards mutual understanding," Mr. Hayes said.
And while private institutions are making slavery amends, NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond said the federal government probably never will, citing the recent Senate resolution of apology for not passing anti-lynching bills, which eight senators did not sign.
"If [lynching] is not a horrific enough of a reason to apologize, then what is?" Mr. Bond said in his keynote address.
The Rev. Wayne Perryman of Mount Calvary Christian Center Church of God in Christ agreed that pursuing the federal government is not a fruitful option. The Seattle minister has filed two reparations lawsuits against the Democratic Party, saying its role in defending slavery and opposing civil rights bills during the Jim Crow era deserves an apology.
"One of the problems in courts is that ... you have to show ... the government official who participated in it," Mr. Perryman said. "With the federal government the real problem is that it has never had a totally pro-slavery position, the Democrats did and supported it, while the abolitionists and Republicans did not."
James Lide, director of the international division at History Associates Inc., a Rockville firm that researches old records, said determining how many U.S. businesses are linked to slavery depends upon definition.
Almost every business has at least an indirect link to slavery, he said. For example, some railroad and Southern utility companies can trace their roots to businesses that used slave labor. Textile companies, for example, use cotton that was grown on Southern plantations.
"There's never going to be a solid number because the idea of how you connect a company to slavery is more a political one than a historical one," Mr. LideDuring an event on economic inequality, Mr. Hayes said the NAACP will lobby other localities and begin protesting and/or boycotting companies that refuse to participate in its annual business diversity report card survey.
The organization has surveyed the lodging, telecommunications, financial services, retailing and automotive industries for almost a decade. Many companies refuse to participate, particularly from the merchandising industry.
"We don't plan to allow them to continue to enjoy our African-American dollars while they continue to ignore us," said Nelson Rivers, chairman of the NAACP economic development committee.
This year's report card measured 55 companies on their efforts. Taken together, four industries got a C grade. Retail got a D, largely because five of the 11 companies examined did not respond to the NAACP's request for information, getting an automatic F.
• Chris Baker contributed to this report from Washington.
said.
_________________ "tout nèg a nèg
ki nèg nwè ki nèg klè
ki nèg klè ki nèg nwè
tout nèg a nèg
nèg klè pè nèg nwè
nèg nwè pa lè wè nèg klè
nèg nwè ké wéy klè
senti i sa roune nèg klè
mè nèg klè ké wéy klè a toujou nèg
sa ki fèt pou nèg vin' blang?
blang té gen chivé pli long?
pou senblé yé nou trapé chivé plat kon fil mang!!!
mandé to fanm...!
mè pou kisa blang lé vin' nwè?
ha... savé ki avan vin' blan yé té ja nèg!
a nou mèm ké nou mèm dépi nânni nânnan...
chinwa soti, kouli soti, indyen soti, blang soti
mèm koté nèg soti
Posté le: Mer 13 Juil 2005 19:51 Sujet du message:
JP Morgan’s Slave Ties Disclosed, Response Offer Called ‘Insulting’
Date: Sunday, January 30, 2005
By: Michael H. Cottman
JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s second-largest bank, has acknowledged that prior to the Civil War, thousands of slaves were accepted as collateral for loans by two banks that were later linked to the banking conglomerate.
In a company-wide letter, the New York-based bank apologized for contributing to “a brutal and unjust institution” and announced that it was setting up a college scholarship fund for black students in Louisiana to compensate for slavery.
Proponents of the slave reparations movement immediately dismissed JP Morgan’s scholarship offer as “insulting” and said it doesn’t begin to make amends for years of slavery.
JP Morgan Chase officials said the bank researched its background after the city of Chicago passed an ordinance in 2003 requiring companies that do business with the city to document their history to determine any association to slavery. Citizens Bank and Canal Bank are the two lenders that were identified by researchers as slave owners. Although the banks are now closed, they were linked to Bank One, which JP Morgan Chase bought last year.
About 13,000 slaves were used as loan collateral between 1831 and 1865. Because of defaults by plantation owners, JP Morgan Chase maintain, Citizens and Canal ended up owning about 1,250 slaves.
JP Morgan Chase’s acknowledgment was outlined in a letter to the bank’s employees and signed by Chief Executive William B. Harrison Jr. and Chief Operating Officer James Dimon. The letter was dated January 20, 2005.
“We all know slavery existed in our country, but it is quite different to see how our history and the institution of slavery were intertwined,” the letter said. “Slavery was tragically ingrained in American society, but that is no excuse.”
“We apologize to the African-American community, particularly those who are descendants of slaves, and to the rest of the American public for the role that Citizens Bank and Canal Bank played,” the letter said. “The slavery era was a tragic time in U.S. history and in our company’s history.”
“Today, JP Morgan Chase is a very different company than the Citizens andCanal Banks of the 1800s,” the letter said. “We are committed to creating opportunities for African-Americans and to building communities through economic empowerment and education, as well as workforce diversity.”
JP Morgan Chase officials said that the company was setting up a $5 million college scholarship program for students living in Louisiana, the state where the events took place.
The company’s program, Smart Start Louisiana, will provide an initial $5 million over five years for full tuition, undergraduate scholarships to black students from Louisiana to attend colleges in Louisiana, JP Morgan announced. In addition, students will have the opportunity to intern at JP Morgan during the summer with the goal of being hired upon graduation.
But Conrad Worrill, chairman of the National Black United Front, told the Chicago Sun-Times last week that the $5 million offer doesn’t begin to repair the damage created when two of JP Morgan Chase’s predecessor banks in Louisiana allowed 13,000 slaves to be used as collateral on loans and took ownership of 1,250 slaves when those loans defaulted.
“The Bill Daley/JP Morgan Chase [offer] is insulting,” said Worrill, according to the Sun-Times. “It’s a joke. To admit they owned 13,000 slaves and say they’re only going to come up with $5 million? What is $5 million over five years? That’s like no money.”
“Calculate how much money they made off 13,000 slaves,” he said. “This is a way to appease and get themselves off the hook. This is not addressing the profits they acquired from owning slaves. It’s nothing. It’s an effort to dilute and diminish the issue. They should sit with the leadership of the reparations movement and negotiate.”
Rev. Jesse Jackson agreed that JP Morgan – and white America in general – must do more.
“The amount of the scholarship does not correspond to the damages done,” Jackson told BlackAmericaWeb.com in an interview last week. “Slavery was a brutal exploitation of people. Whites gained generational wealth while blacks were forced into generational poverty. Hundreds of millions of dollars were profited from slavery, so we need to calculate what that means.”
Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington, D.C. bureau, said it’s important for companies like JP Morgan Chase to acknowledge their connections to slavery.
ki nèg nwè ki nèg klè
ki nèg klè ki nèg nwè
tout nèg a nèg
nèg klè pè nèg nwè
nèg nwè pa lè wè nèg klè
nèg nwè ké wéy klè
senti i sa roune nèg klè
mè nèg klè ké wéy klè a toujou nèg
sa ki fèt pou nèg vin' blang?
blang té gen chivé pli long?
pou senblé yé nou trapé chivé plat kon fil mang!!!
mandé to fanm...!
mè pou kisa blang lé vin' nwè?
ha... savé ki avan vin' blan yé té ja nèg!
a nou mèm ké nou mèm dépi nânni nânnan...
chinwa soti, kouli soti, indyen soti, blang soti
mèm koté nèg soti
Posté le: Mer 13 Juil 2005 20:01 Sujet du message:
Wachovia apologizes for slavery ties
Bank satisfies Chicago ordinance requiring companies with city contracts to disclose slavery ties.
June 2, 2005: 1:08 PM EDT
By Katie Benner, CNN/Money staff writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Wachovia Corporation has apologized for its ties to slavery after disclosing that two of its historical predecessors owned slaves and accepted them as payment.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia (down $0.27 to $51.08, Research) issued a 111-page report to comply with a Chicago ordinance that requires companies that do business with the city to disclose whether they profited from slavery, which ended in the United States in 1865.
"On behalf of Wachovia Corporation, I apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans and people of African descent," said Ken Thompson, Wachovia chairman and chief executive officer, in the statement released late Wednesday. "We are deeply saddened by these findings."
Historians at the History Factory, a research firm specializing in corporate archival work, found that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company and the Bank of Charleston -- institutions that ultimately became part of Wachovia through acquisitions -- owned slaves, Wachovia said in the statement.
Records revealed that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company owned at least 162 slaves, Wachovia said, and that the Bank of Charleston accepted at least 529 slaves as collateral on mortgaged properties or loans. The Bank of Charleston also acquired an undetermined number of people when customers defaulted on their loans.
"We know that we cannot change the past, and we can't make up for the wrongs of slavery," said Thompson. "But we can learn from our past, and begin a stronger dialogue about slavery and the experience of African-Americans in our country."
"We want to promote a better understanding of the African-American experience, including the unique struggles, triumphs and contributions of African-Americans, and their important role in America's past and present," he added.
Slavery disclosures
The announcement comes as a handful of cities nationwide propose initiatives requiring banks and other large companies to investigate and disclose ties to slavery.
Lawsuits have also been filed over the past few years by descendents of slaves, who seek billions of dollars in reparations from companies for their ties to slavery. These companies include R.J. Reynolds (up $0.29 to $82.90, Research) and Aetna (down $0.12 to $78.73, Research).
Fellow banking giant J.P. Morgan (down $0.39 to $35.37, Research) released a similar disclosure in January, also in order to comply with Chicago's slavery ordinance, bank spokesman Tom Kelly told CNN/Money.
After revealing that a predecessor institution in Louisiana used slaves as collateral, JP Morgan apologized for its ties to slavery, and established a $5 million college scholarship program for African-American students from Louisiana.
The Chicago ordinance, which went into effect January 2003, was designed, "to promote full and accurate disclosure to the public about any slavery policies sold by any companies, or profits from slavery by other industries (or their predecessors) who are doing business with the city."
There is no penalty for companies that disclose they had ties to slavery, but as with any disclosure, companies that make false statements can have their contract with the city voided.
Along with Chicago, Richmond, Va., Philadelphia and Los Angeles also require companies that do business within city limits to disclose financial ties with slavery. City council members in Berkeley, Calif., proposed an ordinance this week that would nullify city contracts with companies that do not acknowledge past practices that aided slavery.
Wachovia has made the full research report available on its Web site, and said it plans to partner with community organizations to further awareness of African-American history.
ki nèg nwè ki nèg klè
ki nèg klè ki nèg nwè
tout nèg a nèg
nèg klè pè nèg nwè
nèg nwè pa lè wè nèg klè
nèg nwè ké wéy klè
senti i sa roune nèg klè
mè nèg klè ké wéy klè a toujou nèg
sa ki fèt pou nèg vin' blang?
blang té gen chivé pli long?
pou senblé yé nou trapé chivé plat kon fil mang!!!
mandé to fanm...!
mè pou kisa blang lé vin' nwè?
ha... savé ki avan vin' blan yé té ja nèg!
a nou mèm ké nou mèm dépi nânni nânnan...
chinwa soti, kouli soti, indyen soti, blang soti
mèm koté nèg soti
Posté le: Mer 13 Juil 2005 20:12 Sujet du message:
Slave descendants to sue Lloyd's
Descendants of black American slaves are to sue Lloyd's of London for insuring ships used in the trade.
High-profile US lawyer Edward Fagan, who secured settlements from Swiss companies in the Nazi gold case, is taking the action for 10 plaintiffs.
He says by underwriting slave ships in the 1700-1800s the UK's oldest insurance firm played a key role.
The action, which claims descendants still suffer, was lodged on Monday according to Associated Press.
The American plaintiffs have produced DNA evidence they say links them with ancestors on recorded slave ships which sailed between Africa and the United States.
One says he has the insurance documents from when Lloyd's of London underwrote the ship his ancestors were on.
Mr Fagan is heading the action against several parties including Lloyd's.
He forced Swiss companies into a £1.25bn settlement on behalf of Nazi victims and is also leading a claim against companies for their role in South Africa under apartheid.
He told the BBC: "Lloyd's was one of the spokes in a hub-and-spoke conspiracy.
'Ongoing injuries'
"Lloyd's knew what they were doing led to the destruction of indigenous populations.
"They took people, put them on board ships and wiped out their identities."
He denied events were too far in the past.
"There's ongoing injuries that these people suffer from.
"Why is it too far fetched to say blacks should be entitled to compensation for damages and genocide committed against them, when every other group in the world that has been victimised in this way has been?"
'Educational issue'
But Kofi Klu, a campaigner on slavery and reparations to the descendants of slaves, told the BBC he believed the legal action could be counter-productive.
"We have to make sure that the focus does not shift from the broad, deeper understanding of reparations to just one of financial compensation," he said.
"We see action for reparations more as an educational issue of bringing masses of people into the fight against racism - and racism is the direct product of historical and contemporary enslavement."
Lloyd's was founded in 17th Century London dockside coffee houses by Edward Lloyd.
It provided cover for merchants taking slaves and goods between Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean at a time when many vessels sank or fell victim to pirates.
Britain abolished slavery in the 1830s and the US followed 30 years later.
During the trade more than 10 million people are estimated to have been traded at West African ports and herded on to slave ships.
One plaintiff, Deadria Farmer-Paellman said the slave trade denied her identity.
"Today I suffer from the injury of not knowing who I am, having no nationality or ethnic group as a result of acts committed by these parties," she said.
'Glossed over'
Lawyers in the UK have welcomed the case.
Barrister Lincoln Crawford OBE chairs the Home Office working party on slavery and is a member of the Race Equality Advisory Panel.
He said it highlighted an important event that "cannot be glossed over".
"There is no doubt that slavery was a crime against humanity and for a lot of black people the consequences of slavery still exist today."
He said it was hard to see how they would win but added, "I would like them to".
Lawyer Fraser Whitehead, the Law Society's former head of civil litigation, said the case was not about "compensation culture".
It would be hard to prove that by insuring the merchants, Lloyd's supported the trade, he said.
"It's a bit like saying the manufacturer of guns facilitated the killing."
A Lloyds spokeswoman said: "We haven't seen this claim, so we are not in a position to comment.
"Previous claims regarding slavery involving Lloyd's have been dismissed without prejudice."
ki nèg nwè ki nèg klè
ki nèg klè ki nèg nwè
tout nèg a nèg
nèg klè pè nèg nwè
nèg nwè pa lè wè nèg klè
nèg nwè ké wéy klè
senti i sa roune nèg klè
mè nèg klè ké wéy klè a toujou nèg
sa ki fèt pou nèg vin' blang?
blang té gen chivé pli long?
pou senblé yé nou trapé chivé plat kon fil mang!!!
mandé to fanm...!
mè pou kisa blang lé vin' nwè?
ha... savé ki avan vin' blan yé té ja nèg!
a nou mèm ké nou mèm dépi nânni nânnan...
chinwa soti, kouli soti, indyen soti, blang soti
mèm koté nèg soti
Last March 31, the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) observed the
88th anniversary of the transfer of the former Danish West Indies to
the U.S., and now a group of U.S. Virgin Islanders is visiting Copenhagen
to open discussions on reparations from the nation that owned and
occupied the territory from 1672 until 1917.
While the subject of reparations is not new in the U.S., this is
believed to be the first initiative originating in the USVI aimed at the
former colonial nation of the small Caribbean territory.
The group spearheading the action is called the African-Caribbean
Reparations & Resettlement Alliance (ACRRA) headed by Shelley Moorhead of
St. Croix. While its initiative is private, it is being observed by
Democratic USVI Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, who has sent an aide, Carlyle
Corbin, his external affairs adviser. The delegation was also accompanied
by Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen (VI-D).
Policy adviser to the group is retired U.S. Ambassador Terence Todman,
a native Virgin Islander. He served as U.S. ambassador to Denmark and
to a number of other countries including Spain and Argentina, as well as
former U.S. secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
"I wasn’t able to go to Denmark, but I promised I would keep in close
touch," said Todman, a board member of the Washington-based National
Endowment for Democracy, which oversees its Latin American programs.
Todman agreed to advise the group after their earlier meeting in
Washington with representatives of the V.I. Danish Apprenticeship Initiative.
Its director, Ulla Lunn, invited Moorhead and his group to Denmark to
meet with human rights and cultural heritage organizations for
discussions on reparations.
Todman a graduate of IAU
"I think it is a worthwhile and excellent idea," said Todman, who
received his bachelor of arts degree from Inter American University in
Puerto Rico, and his master’s in public administration from Syracuse
University. "Slavery is nothing anyone can be proud of. That sort of thing
leaves a mark that can’t easily be erased."
Recalling he served as U.S. ambassador to Denmark for six years, Todman
said, "Many Danes expressed their regrets at the way things happened
during the period of slavery." Referring to the sale of the territory by
Denmark to the U.S. in 1916 with the formal transfer occurring in 1917,
the retired diplomat said, "They felt badly that they weren’t in a
position to make demands for the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was
just a sale.
"You never make up completely for these things, but at least they are
showing it isn’t something they are proud of," he said. "Once you have
an open approach like that then you have the basis for discussion on
what might be done.
"What I appreciate about the way they are looking at it, is that they
are not trying to relive the evils of the past but trying to see where
we are today in order to build a better day," he said.
The emancipation of the former slaves (in 1848) was followed by labor
revolts and the decline of the sugar industry. "Denmark turned to other
things," said Todman. "Many people don’t know. In the process, people
will learn something about what it must have been like."
The ACRRA initiative has been embraced by a number of members of the
USVI Legislature, and Sen. Ronald Russell of St. Croix has drafted a bill
to establish a commission to study reparations to the USVI.
The first bill on reparations in the U.S. Congress was introduced in
1989 by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), but it has never been enacted into
law. _________________ "tout nèg a nèg
ki nèg nwè ki nèg klè
ki nèg klè ki nèg nwè
tout nèg a nèg
nèg klè pè nèg nwè
nèg nwè pa lè wè nèg klè
nèg nwè ké wéy klè
senti i sa roune nèg klè
mè nèg klè ké wéy klè a toujou nèg
sa ki fèt pou nèg vin' blang?
blang té gen chivé pli long?
pou senblé yé nou trapé chivé plat kon fil mang!!!
mandé to fanm...!
mè pou kisa blang lé vin' nwè?
ha... savé ki avan vin' blan yé té ja nèg!
a nou mèm ké nou mèm dépi nânni nânnan...
chinwa soti, kouli soti, indyen soti, blang soti
mèm koté nèg soti
Landmark Reparations Legislation passed unanimously in
the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Posted: 05/08
From: Mathaba
From: African-Caribbean Reparations and Resettlement
Alliance
Last week legislators in the U.S. Virgin Islands
unanimously passed a resolution which condemns the
institution of slavery and positions the former Danish
colony to seek reparations from Denmark.
Sponsored by Senators Celestino White and Usie
Richards, the landmark legislation is the first of its
kind by a former slave colony in which present day
descendants have organized to officially seek redress
from a past European colonial power.
History records that from 1671 to 1917, Denmark owned
and occupied the islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and
St. John, the then Danish West Indies, and for more
than 175 years was actively involved in the trade of
enslaved Africans.
This new political development comes at a time when a
Virgin Islands delegation has recently returned from
historic reparations talks with officials in Denmark.
Led by Shelley Moorhead, president of the
African-Caribbean Reparations and Resettlement
Alliance (ACRRA), the 9-member delegation journeyed to
Copenhagen in early April spending five days in
discussions with Human Rights and Cultural Heritage
organizations.
The talks in Denmark have resulted in Memorandum of
Understanding which establishes a Joint Virgin Islands
/ Denmark Task Force on Reparations. The agreement is
the first between the Danes and Virgin Islanders which
directly acknowledges the inhumanity of 250 years of
slavery and colonization.
The effects of the document, however, are much more
far-reaching. It is the first accord of its kind
between organizations in Europe and the Caribbean
officially recognizing that descendants of enslaved
Africans “have suffered economic, psychological,
social and emotional harm” as a result of the
European institution of slavery.
Having introduced a reparations paradigm that not only
addresses the process of repair for the descendants of
the enslaved, the ACRRA model also seeks the repair of
the European mentality which allowed for the
dehumanization of Africans and the elevation of one
race of people above another.
Bolstered with the strength of a recent legislative
resolution, ACRRA and the Virgin Islands Reparations
Movement are now introducing to the world new formulas
for international repair and reconciliation.
Shelley Moorhead _________________ "tout nèg a nèg
ki nèg nwè ki nèg klè
ki nèg klè ki nèg nwè
tout nèg a nèg
nèg klè pè nèg nwè
nèg nwè pa lè wè nèg klè
nèg nwè ké wéy klè
senti i sa roune nèg klè
mè nèg klè ké wéy klè a toujou nèg
sa ki fèt pou nèg vin' blang?
blang té gen chivé pli long?
pou senblé yé nou trapé chivé plat kon fil mang!!!
mandé to fanm...!
mè pou kisa blang lé vin' nwè?
ha... savé ki avan vin' blan yé té ja nèg!
a nou mèm ké nou mèm dépi nânni nânnan...
chinwa soti, kouli soti, indyen soti, blang soti
mèm koté nèg soti
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