Bah! Repartitions!
http://www.nlpc.org/view.asp?action=viewArticle&aid=927
NLPC Rips Wachovia Slavery Apology
Date: June 2, 2005
Contact: Peter Flaherty 703-237-1970
Website: www.nlpc.org
Peter Flaherty, President of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), criticized Wachovia, the nations fourth largest bank, for yesterday making an apology for its predecessor banks links to slavery. The apology accompanied a report that Wachovia commissioned in response to municipal ordinances in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia.
According to the report, Wachovia merged with, acquired or absorbed some 400 banks since 1781. A total of two banks were identified as having transactions involving slaves prior to the Civil War, which ended 140 years ago. The Georgia Railroad and Banking Company owned 162 slaves and the Bank of Charleston accepted 529 slaves as collateral on loans.
The Wachovia statement reads, in part, We are deeply saddened by these findings. We apologize to all Americans, and especially to African Americans and people of African descent.
Flaherty said, Wachovia may have had to compile this report in order to comply with ordinances in cities where it does business, but nothing required this groveling in the form of an apology. Wachovia should instead apologize to its customers and shareholders for caving into the reparations activists who are not interested in racial justice, but in money.
Forcing Wachovia to ransack old records for links to slavery is nothing but a prelude to a shakedown. These municipal ordinances were passed at the behest of activists who seek slave reparations. By trying to appease these hustlers, Wachovia only encourages greater demands.
Ironically, the big city politicians who have passed these ordinances are virtually all Democrats. Of course, in the 19th century the Democratic Party was pro-slavery. If Wachovia were responsible for slavery, wouldnt the Democratic Party be even more responsible? The answer is, of course, that the Democratic Party has changed and that Democrats today were not around in the 19th century. The same applies to corporations. Not one officer or shareholder of Wachovia was alive during slavery. This concept of cross-generational responsibility is an absurdity.
Wachovia also yesterday announced plans to partner with community organizations that are experts in furthering awareness and education of African-American history.
Flaherty reacted by commenting, What does this mean? Is Wachovia going to help reparations activists further debase American history? These activists either distort or ignore key facts about our past to fit their contemporary political agenda.
NLPC recently published a 35-page monograph titled, The Case Against Slave Reparations, co-authored by Peter Flaherty and John Carlisle. It is available as a pdf at www.nlpc.org. It brings to the fore facts missing from the reparations debate, such as:
Blacks owned black slaves. For example, about one-third of the 10,600 free blacks in New Orleans in 1860 were slave owners.
Deaths on ships coming from Europe, carrying indentured servants (white slaves), equaled or exceeded deaths on slave ships coming from Africa.
Slave traders typically did not capture slaves in Africa. In the vast majority of cases, they simply bought them from local African dealers.
Prior to the Civil War in the South, Irish immigrants rather than black slaves were often employed for the most hazardous jobs, since Irish lives were considered expendable.
Economic disparity between descendants of former slaves and the descendants of free blacks largely disappeared within two generations following emancipation.
America is prosperous despite slavery, not because of it. The Souths reliance on agriculture and forced-labor hindered economic development compared to the North.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the parent company of Bank One, disclosed in January that two of its predecessor banks in Louisiana allowed 13,000 slaves to be used as collateral on loans and took ownership of 1,250 slaves when the loans defaulted. The bank apologized for its links to slavery and created a $5 million college scholarship fund for African-American students in Louisiana, a gesture that was quickly dismissed by reparations activists.
NLPC promotes ethics in public life, and sponsors the Corporate Integrity Project.
Man...this pisses me off. I'm totally in agreement with this article, but face it people--SLAVER IS OVER. no one alive now in the US was ever enslaved in any manner that was sanctioned by the United States Gov't. These people are merely trying to get some money for things they had nothing to do with.
"On my great greaty grandaddy was a slave", well boo hoo hoo. I bet he worked a lot. What have you done? try to figure out how to get money for free? GO GET A JOB
I dont think repartitions should be given at all. Slavery was merely a way of life, and it worked.
The Jews (seriously....THE JEWS) dont sit around begging the Egyption government for money, just because they were enslaved until Moses parted the dadgum red sea!
And that whole deal with Hilter. C'mon now!
And that's the JEWS, they're known for being tight with their money.
The black people that are doing this are doing something morally wrong.
And it just pisses me off that they get away with it.