Posted on 06/15/2005 12:42:27 PM PDT by JZelle
The slavery-reparations crowd is serious about raiding corporate America. That's the lesson to draw from what's happening to Wachovia Corp., the nation's fourth-largest bank, which says that predecessors to two companies it acquired in 1991 and 2001 once traded in slaves. It doesn't take a historian to see that Wachovia is being mau-maued. Wachovia and other companies are now discovering that giving to the slavery-reparations movement is a losing proposition. Two weeks ago Wachovia announced that First Union Corp., with which it merged in 2001, and the South Carolina National Corp., which joined it in 1991, had absorbed predecessor companies that dealt in slaves, which it learned from a study by the History Factory, a corporate-research company. A Chicago ordinance requires companies contracting with the city to disclose ties to slavery, and since Wachovia is a partner with a Chicago community-development corporation to build low-income housing, it must comply with city law. The History Factory found that the old Georgia Railroad and Banking Co., which was founded in the early 1830s and was acquired in 1954 by a predecessor to First Union, owned at least 162 slaves. It also found that the Bank of Charleston, which merged in 1926 with a company that Wachovia acquired in 1991, used at least 529 slaves as collateral on mortgaged properties and loans. Wachovia said it was sorry. "I apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans and people of African descent," said Chairman and CEO Ken Thompson. Another executive, Stan Kelly, told colleagues that he is "working to get personally connected to this chapter in our company's and our country's history." The company promised an unspecified financial contribution -- in all likelihood an educational fund or some other endowed trust -- to benefit the descendants of the slaves.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
These racists don't want unity. King has been, is now and forever will be rolling over in his grave.
Just think how many absent fathers would suddenly start owning up of each of their lil' boo-boos was potentially worth $250,000 for their half? And does anyone think, even if it stopped there, that it would stop there?
It seems to me that Wachovia is doing what it should be doing in the present to address current problems. So they are going after the hand that has shown itself willing to serve them. Very, very sad.
Do we all understand how important it is to prevent liberal activist judges off the bench?
Except, AFAIK, Toyota hasn't learned the lesson; it agreed to funnel six billion dollars to Jesse-Jackson-approved-businesses/causes. Six billion dollars! You think that's coming out of Toyota's pocket? No, it's coming out of their customer's pockets . . . Reparations to the tune of $300 to $500 a pop everytime you buy a new Toyota. And yet people are still buying them, even here on FR.
MLK was the ultimate shake-down artist. Where do you think Jesse learned all his tactics?
At that rate, Jessie Jackson really would be Chicago's Father of the Year.
Uh, that little remark doesn't deserve a response.
King was a great patriot.
Now, as for the situation regarding Reparations, reparations are complete crap because I don't know how one proves their ancestors were slaves.
Being black ain't enough, because alot of black elite families (particularly in cities like New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston) owned slaves and ran plantations themselves, so, are they going to be eligible to recieve reparations too.
You know, if it hadn't been for Reconstruction, we would have had a racially equal society much earlier than the 60's, and today, blacks would have the same living standards as whites.
You obviously have been fed public school history.
I watched and listened to him in person and on TV and radio. I know what he did and how he did it.
He would come to a city, "I'm not telling you to riot. I'm not telling you to take matters into your own hands to right the wrongs you see."
Then he would leave, riots begin, he would come back and shake down the city and the riots would stop.
That never happened in Mobile.
M.L.K was just trying to right the wrongs that had been forced on the Southland by the misrule of the Reconstruction governments.
When your way of life is threatened and the only way to make it stop is to pay extortion or deal with violence, THAT, my friends, is terrorism. Reparationists ARE terrorists.
Give them an inch, they will demand a mile..........
I understand the anger, but why direct it at Wachovia?
The company had no choice but to have the research done, since it was required in order to comply with legislation in Chicago.
Once the information was out, the public relations would have been a nightmare for them if they hadn't made a big apology.
They're just trying to make a profit. Public relations is important in that regard.
I'm angry at the shakedown artists over all this.
It's utterly gutless to be afraid of name-calling and shortsighted to make payoffs that will ultimately harm the corporation, the industry, and the country as a whole. These "racism" extortionists gain influence every time a corportation gives in and "apologizes" and pays up for something they never did.
Yes, blame the shakedown artists, but you can blame the spineless victims, too. They're not serving their shareholders by paying blackmail. They're simply cowards.
"you can blame the spineless victims, too. They're not serving their shareholders by paying blackmail. They're simply cowards."
Particularly since the history of their very name, Wachovia, is tied to a people, Moravians, who disapproved of slavery. There were no past links within the history of Wachovia Bank & Trust; the two instances came via acquisitions.
The Reconstruction period ended in 1877.
What prevented the southern states from righting the alleged wrongs of the reconstruction governments in the 88 years between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.