Goode expected to propose banks' slavery disclosure

The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | Thu, Jun. 09, 2005 | Angela Couloumbis

[new cruelty]

City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. is expected to introduce legislation today requiring banks in which the city deposits money to disclose whether they have ever profited from slavery - and provide the city with a statement of financial reparations.

Goode's bill follows legislation approved earlier this year that requires firms with city contracts to research and disclose whether they garnered any profits in the past from slavery.

That measure, sponsored by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, requires businesses to submit an affidavit within 90 days of receiving a city contract stating that they have checked their records for evidence of any such profits. If a firm does not submit the paperwork or turns over false information, it could lose its city contract.

Goode's bill would require the banks to provide an annual certification of any financial ties they may have had to slavery. If they had such ties, they must also give the city a statement of financial reparations, which would describe any new financial products or programs developed by the bank to address racial disparity in its lending and investment activities.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

• As matters now stand there are about as many blacks in Africa as there is food for them to eat. There is no reason to suppose that there would have been any more blacks in Africa today if American importation of slaves hadn't occurred than there now are. That might not be true of the general population of America - it's difficult to imagine that there would not be more Americans alive today if in fact the Civil War had not occurred - but we're talking about Africa.

• If it weren't for slavery, there wouldn't be as many descendants of the African blacks of 250 years ago as in fact there are today - by a number approximately equal to the number of blacks in America today. Because hard as the lives of antebellum American blacks may have been, they did eat American food, and they did have descendants.

• If it weren't for slavery, none of the great-great-grandparents of today's American blacks would have ever met.

• If it weren't for slavery, none of the blacks in America would be alive today. There would be just as many Americans - because the Civil War wouldn't have occurred - but they would be white instead of black.

Slavery happened just about everywhere in the world. Slavery was abolished in America by a Civil War, and slavery was reduced worldwide through the efforts (motivated by noting but British altruism) of the Royal Navy. But slavery still exists - primarily in Africa. Slavery happened in America, in the rapidly receding past.

Ever hear of something called a "statute of limitations?" If you insist on looking back 150 years, I'm sure I can find an ancestor who had a tough life. In fact, compared to an American secretery today Queen Victoria of Great Britain had a tough life. And the slave masters of the American South were no better off than she was.

American citizenship alone could probably be sold for enough to buy "forty acres and a mule" in Africa today. Any takers?

[AppyPappy]

Maybe he is talkig about slavery in the Muslim world.





NAAAHHHHHHHH!

[par4]

I'd like to see a banking institution open it's records and show a loss from the slave trade. After all, banks don't always make profits - sometimes they lose money, especially if the goods are perishable (please don't read too much into this, but some of the "goods" had to be damaged in transit etc.).

Would the bank then be elegible for tax credits from the city?