The fact that Conyers keeps bringing up the ultimate pork barrel project is all the reason one needs to keep the GOP in control of the House.
If you wait 200 years to file suit, even on a claim that would habe been legitimate, you lose. It's called "laches," the doctrine of unnecessary delay. Any competent, unbiased lawyer would agree with this point.
Congressman Billybob
Seeking to right a wrong that dates back centuries, advocates of reparations for slavery have extracted apologies from a number of U.S. corporations, including The Courant. Now they're looking for something much more tangible - money.
A lawsuit expected to be filed today against Hartford-based insurer Aetna, the FleetBoston financial services firm, railroad operator CSX and several other companies seeks damages, shares of corporate profits and what amounts to generations worth of back pay for forced labor.
Ed Fagan, a Livingston, N.J., lawyer who is among a team of attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said a total of eight companies will be targeted in suits filed today in federal courts in New York and New Jersey. He declined to name the other five companies.
"It's the beginning of a series of lawsuits to place the issue of reparations for African Americans on the table," Fagan said.
As each of the firms dismissed the merits of the suits Monday, Fagan indicated that the list of defendants would get longer. "That list will probably grow to between 60 and 100 unless the defendants see the wisdom of acceding to what are reasonable demands."
The move to compensate the descendants of slaves has gained a significant amount of momentum in the past few years and garnered an equal amount of press attention.
Two years ago, Aetna apologized for insuring as property the lives of slaves in the 1850s. The ensuing round of media coverage and hand-wringing got many wondering about the role other corporations and businesses might have played in the sale and purchase of human beings. A number of other companies took public relations hits as it was revealed that they, too, profited from slavery. And in a story published on July 4, 2000, The Courant issued an apology of its own - for accepting ads for the sale and capture of slaves until at least 1823.
There will be four plaintiffs in the suits to be filed today, but Fagan would name only one - Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, a 36-year old law school graduate and New York resident who has spent years researching the history of business with regard to slavery. It was Farmer-Paellmann whose research led to the apology from Aetna.
Despite its status as a front-burner issue - at least before Sept. 11 - the move for reparations may be doomed to failure.
"I expect that this lawsuit will be dismissed in relatively short order," said Jonathan Turley, a professor of public interest law at George Washington University. "There is little apparent legal merit to these arguments. The reparations issue is something that plays better on cable news than it does within a courtroom."
James Mahoney, a FleetBoston spokesman in Boston, said the company has yet to see the suit, but "will review it when it is filed and respond appropriately."
In a statement, Aetna said, "We do not believe a court would permit a lawsuit over events which - however regrettable - occurred hundreds of years ago. These issues in no way reflect Aetna today." The firm added that it has invested "more than $36 million in the African American community" and has "embraced diversity."
CSX, in a statement, called slavery "a tragic chapter in our nation's history. It is a history shared by every American, and its impacts cannot be attributed to any single company or industry. However, the lawsuit to be filed in court in New York City against CSX and other corporations demanding financial reparations is wholly without merit and should be dismissed."
Reparations advocates applauded the impending suit.
"Full steam ahead with it," said Sam Anderson, a member of the Manhattan-based Reparations Mobilization Coalition, adding that he would like to see any damages awarded used to fund education, health care and a variety of other programs. "Very simply, it's long overdue."
Connecticut State Rep. Reginald G. Beamon, D-Waterbury, who in the past has introduced legislation that would have funded a study of reparations, said it was difficult to comment on the suit without having seen it, but added, "Obviously, a discussion on this issue is warranted in some way. Whether through the courts or not, I'm not sure."
Fagan said the firms were named as defendants because "these are the ones that the lead plaintiffs can show a connection to."
Though there will be no dollar value listed in the suit, Fagan suggested that the plaintiffs might be looking for astronomical sums.
"It was in the trillions of dollars if you're just talking about how the companies profited," he said.
Turley, though, said federal and state statutes are not written in a way that would allow such a suit to succeed.
"The law," he said, "simply does not have a claim or a remedy to fit these allegations. The reparations litigation suffers on a number of legal fronts. First, it's not clear that these individuals have standing to allege injury for historical incidents of slavery. Second, this is the type of injury that is shared by a variety of races and groups within our population. Slavery is a scourge that affected not just the African American community but other races historically. There is a limit to what the law can do in terms of social causes. This is a social cause that cannot be fully translated into a legal cause."
Farmer-Paellmann could not be reached for comment Monday, but in interviews with The Courant she has said that she would like to use any money won in a reparations lawsuit to set up a trust fund for African Americans.
Courant Staff Writer Kenneth R. Gosselin contributed to this story.
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Even the left-wing rag, The Courant, is not immune to this stupidity. And I thought apologies made everything nicey-nice again.
Then I would offer reparations with the cost of a first class ticket to the African nation of their choice deducted and require them to renounce their American citizenship and agree never to return as a condition of getting the settlement.
The same should apply to other state, local and federal employees. Either be doing the job you were hired for or elected to or be fired. You wanna "moonlight"? Work on "our time"? Well, you can't! That's theft! You are fired!
As a taxpayer, I don't want a penny of the money I pay in going to people that I employ so they can around and sue "me".
I am already tired of being blamed for things I did not do. I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to pay for it too.
Now wait a minute. What insurance company would take such
a risk, what with the beatings and lynchings and all.
But I believe Keyes, Sowell and Williams would oppose calls for reparations.
The modern descendants of slaves brought here in chains in admittedly miserable, soul-gutting conditions who are now calling for reparations need to remember a few things:
They should not only be glad to be in America, they should be glad to be ANYWHERE !
Had that NOT happened, the blood of their ancestors would have run into the earth over there several centuries ago and these modern day would-be "plaintiffs" would not even exist.
And should the great-great-great grandchildren of the approximately 3,000 SLAVE OWNING BLACK plantation owners in this country also be subject to PAYING these reparations?
If so, how do we find THEM?
Robert Hitt Neill tells of attending a Tennessee Mountain Writer’s Conference years ago with several other authors. Among them was Alex Hailey, celebrated author of “Roots.” Watching a TV news show, a group of them watched a demonstration in a Southern state against the “Rebel” flag incorporated into that state’s flag. The very next report covered a famine in Africa. Graphic images showed dead bodies, starving children with distended tummies and runny noses and dying people covered with flies, too weak to brush them away.
Mr. Hailey intoned in a low, serious voice:
“Every time an American black sees a story like that, they should find a Confederate flag and kiss it.” He then pointed to the TV screen and continued, “Because these would be me and my descendants, except for American slavery. I thank God that my family and I are here instead of there.”
Next problem!