Posted on 11/01/2006 6:54:45 PM PST by SmithL
SAN FRANCISCO - Banks, clothing manufacturers and insurance companies will have to disclose any past connections to the slave trade if they want to do business with the city of San Francisco.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a slavery era disclosure ordinance Tuesday that gives city contractors nine months to prove under oath that they searched for historical documents that would show ties to the slave trade and the results of that search.
“It’s important that this country and San Francisco apologize and are aware of the slavery. We cannot just let it go and assume it didn’t happen,” said Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, author of the ordinance.
Insurance polices, loan documents and other records show some companies that are still around today profited from slavery.
While there are no penalties should a contractor reveal ties to the slave trade, contractors are encouraged to donate money into a fund that will be established under the legislation. The fund will be used to pay for educational programs and developments “designed to ameliorate the effects of slavery” on San Francisco residents.
All companies that provide financial, insurance or textile services for The City are covered by the legislation.
The legislation follows passage of the state’s first slavery era accountability ordinance, which required all insurance companies to research their archives and provide the state with any information that linked them to the slave industry.
Other cities have similar ordinances, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland and Berkeley.
It’s unclear if any of The City’s contractors had ties to the slave trade. The City has contracts with at least 10 textile companies and has more than $1 billion deposited in interest-bearing accounts in a number of banks, including Bank of America.
“The Bank of America is currently examining its records to determine if it participated or profited from slavery,” Maxwell said.
you got to be sh***ing me,, an antislavery disclosure requirement? lolol
We have had a rush of San Francisco transplants lately...and it shows. Welcome to Texas...but leave your California ideas in California or GO BACK!
San Fran"crisco" needs some serious help.
These people are nuts.
sorry, I misstated and used antislavery.... It's a 'slavery era disclosure' ordinance
Do liberals have anything else better to do. I am sure in San Franscico earthquakes are still a concern. Have they exhausted all avenues to make sure public safety is maintained as to that before they go into this crucial area of titilating but utterly useless in the end waste of time
Maybe they should check records to see if any family fortunes were made by bootlegging and being Nazi sympathizers, like, say -- oh, I don't know, the Kennedy Family, to pick one at random. How about we look into that while we have the archives out?
They should check out if Obama's family were involved in the slave trade.
LOL! You have to love how liberals work to attract business. It sure worked for Seattle with Boeing.
It certainly doesn't sound "ex post facto" exactly.
But it makes the sons pay for the sins of the fathers, a totally UNAMERICAN concept.
I kinda think the people who are left in San Francisco that can still think oughta be firing the supervisors if they have nothing better to do.
San Francisco may end up being the site of one of the greatest earthquakes in human history, and these idjits are worried about feel-goody legislation for something that ended what, like ONE HUNDRED FORTY YEARS AGO?
I don't even live there, and I'm pissed!!!
Of course, when the City of San Francisco gets "Joe's Municipal Bonds" instead of Goldman-Sachs to market their revenue bonds, eveyone will feel the pain.
Do these liberal cities around the country have any connections to the slave trade?
Have they rented out buildings for slave trading? Participated in a lynching? Taxed a slave ship in it's harbor?
They should require proof that none of their ancestors was convicted of spitting on the sidewalk.
The City fathers figured out a new shakedown...one that even seems to give them a patina of moral superiority.
Some people forget that the people of the USA fought and bled by the millions to end slavery.
While they are at it with this kind of thing, I suggest they also require that anyone doing business witht the city disclose any ties they may have had in the past with socialism or communism - the causes of more death and suffering worldwide than any other human endeavors combined.
I used to get really mad when people would refer to the state where I grew up as, the state of fruits and nuts. No more!!!!!
I support slave reparations with one stipulation. The reparations should only be paid by registered Democrats. It was the Democrat Party which fought to keep slavery, not Republicans. It was Democrat Party politicians which tried to keep the Freedmen in bondage, not Republicans. It was Democrat politicians which fought Black attempts to obtain their constitutional rights, not Republicans. It was Democrats which formed and populated the KKK, not Republicans.
Republican reparations were paid in BLOOD on the battlefields obtaining Freedom for Blacks.
What the h*ll??! California entered the Union as a free state.
How about worrying about links to actual extant slavery as in the sex boutiques of the city by the Bay, or the estates of various Middle Eastern types, instead of wasting businesses time with paperwork over events over 140 years ago?
Anyone want to bet that these disclosures are going to be used in future lawsuits or "reparations" shakedowns? Jesse Jackson must be wetting his pants in anticipation.
I am of Indian blood....
I'm soooo confused!!!!
Help me ACLU..............
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