J.P. Morgan acknowledge debt for slavery

[hiphop]

J. P. MORGAN ACKNOWLEDGE DEBT FOR SLAVERY

J.P Morgan Chase's disclosure of its predecessors' complicity in the
enslavement of African people came about because of the strategic organizing on the legislative front and the ever increasing mobilizing efforts of Reparations Activists throughout the country. The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA) applaud the work of Chicago Reparations Activists, and the legislative efforts of frontrunners like Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman of Chicago, Illinois, for championing legislation which requires companies seeking to do business with the City to disclose records of participation, investment in, and profiting from the enslavement of African people in the U.S. We want other elected officials at the local, state, and federal level and grass roots Reparations Activists to know that the initial effort of J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. is clearly a victory. We
must remain confident that our ongoing efforts to organize and
mobilize for support of our demand for Reparations will ultimately be victorious.

This important first step of acknowledgement made by J. P Morgan Chase in the form of a $5 Million scholarship fund for African Americans in the state of Louisiana, and disclosures by Brown University and the University of Alabama are important components in a much needed substantive national dialog about a part of American history that has heretofore been largely ignored. We encourage J.P Morgan Chase, the parent company of Bank One, to set an even greater example for other institutions that should attribute their longevity and present-day
profitability to the former enslavement of Africans in this country.

After achieving this important victory, we encourage Reparations
activists to monitor and be intimately involved in the disbursement of the scholarship funds to ensure they benefit the descendants of formerly enslaved African peoples.

 

[bw in dc]

Slavery was a worldwide market commodity when slavery was brought to the colonies. In fact, Africa sold off their slaves like France exports wine. Is Africa at the top of the N'COBRA list as well?

It was, unfortunately, the times, and a accepted trade. I will not accept responsibility for decisions made by generations 10X back.

To this day one thing remains certain. If you want to have the best chance at success, the best place is the United States - any color.

 

[Dreadsox]

After achieving this important victory, we encourage Reparations
activists to monitor and be intimately involved in the disbursement of the scholarship funds to ensure they benefit the descendants of formerly enslaved African peoples.

The part in bold was not part of JP morgan's statement, was it? I can find it in no other article on the topic.

I would hate for misinformation to be spread on such an awful topic.

Here is a link to the AP article.

http://www.forbes.com/associatedpress/feeds/ap/2005/01/21/ap1772797.html

[Q]Update 1: JPMorgan: Predecessors Linked to Slavery
01.21.2005, 12:20 AM

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the first company to acknowledge that two of its predecessor banks had specific links to the slave trade. The filing was meant to comply with a Chicago ordinance requiring such disclosures.

The bank, the nation's second largest, said in a statement Thursday that the two Louisiana banks had received thousands of slaves as collateral before the Civil War.

The New York-based bank also apologized for contributing to "a brutal and unjust institution" and said it was setting up a scholarship fund in Louisiana as a way to make amends.

JPMorgan officials said the bank undertook the study after Chicago passed an ordinance in 2003 requiring companies that do business with the city to research their history to determine any links to slavery. Among the companies that have been required to do such research are banks, insurance companies, bond underwriters and other financial vendors.

Jennifer Hoyle of the city's law department said it was the first contractor's filing to disclose specific slavery information under the new ordinance.

JPMorgan's disclosure was outlined in a letter to the bank's employees that was signed by William B. Harrison Jr., the bank's chairman and chief executive, and James Dimon, the president and chief operating officer. The letter was made available to reporters.

The bank said that historical researchers had found that two now-defunct predecessor banks - Citizens Bank and Canal Bank, both based in Louisiana - served as banks to plantations from the 1830s until the Civil War.

"Collateral" for mortgages and other loans "included land, equipment and/or enslaved individuals," the statement said.

The bank estimated that the two banks "accepted approximately 13,000 enslaved individuals as collateral and that the banks came to own approximately 1,250 enslaved individuals as a result" of defaults.

The disclosure did not make clear what happened to those people.

The two Louisiana banks merged in 1924 but failed in March 1933 amid the Depression. A federally chartered bank in May 1933 assumed some of the failed banks assets, and that institution - the National Bank of Commerce in New Orleans - was a precursor of Bank One Corp. Bank One was purchased last year by JPMorgan.

"We apologize to the African-American community, particularly those who are descendants of slaves, and to the rest of the American public for the role that Citizens Bank and Canal Bank played," Harrison and Dimon said in their statement. "The slavery era was a tragic time in U.S. history and in our company's history."

JPMorgan said it was setting up a program called Smart Start Louisiana. The bank will provide $5 million over five years for full tuition undergraduate scholarships for African-American students from Louisiana to attend college in their home state. [/Q]


And I too do not believe it my reponsibility or my children's responsibility for reparations. Shocking I am sure to hear me say that.

 

[hiphop]

bw in dc,

Yes, Africa and poverty reduction is on the top of the list as well. In all the world, there are many Reparation groups.

It is historical fact that the Europeans created TransAtlantic slave trade. Slavery was not a worldwide market commodity. We do know that there was slave trade amongst African tribes, we know that even the Arabs had slave trade.

However, Africans did not profit from TransAtlantic slave trade, which is one of the worst crimes in history. Rough estimations speak of 100 millions victims, a holocaust of its own kind.

Slave trade was not accepted by the slaves who were suffering. Your English or French ancestors got a whole continent for free - they just had to kill a few millions of native Indians - and the wealth and success of the United States rests on the backs of slaves.

For example, slaves were cutting the woods. If it wasn´t for them, the U.S. mainland would still be covered with thick forests.

Personally, I don ´t give a dime if you accept any responsibility or not. However, your ignorance is typical for so - called new money.

 

[hiphop]

Re: Re: J.P. Morgan acknowledge debt for slavery

And I too do not believe it my reponsibility or my children's responsibility for reparations. Shocking I am sure to hear me say that.

Don ´t worry Dreadsox, no one is going to knock at your door with a box to collect money.

This is not about donations or charity. It is about justice and reparations. In several cases, reparations have already been paid; immediately, the case of Jews (concentration camps) comes to mind - German and Austrian governments were brave enough to finally accept responsibility and to pay. Another case is the one of Australian Aborigines.

Corporations/ companies who profitted from slave trade directly, as well as governments (especially the ones who were involved in massive TransAtlantic slave trade, i.e. European ones) will be held responsible.

 

[U2utah2U]

Ah, and once again we see another thread end in the Nazis. It is not very good netiquette to compare aweful current events to the Nazis. See here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

Also, if we're going to bring J.P. Morgan to accountability, why not the entire Spanish and Portuguese governments?

African slavery was an aweful ugly mark on our collective history as humans; however, let's focus on continued human slavery in the United States, Mexico, China and around the world. Indentured servitude still exists and it is just as ugly and demeaning as it was hundreds and thousands of years ago.

 

[hiphop]

U2utah2U,

I don ´t think you have understood the meaning of my post very well. There was no comparison between Nazis and whoever else, but a notification that governments who were involved in the persecution of Jews accepted their responsibility and paid reparations to the decendants of Jews. Same goes for Aborigines. Maybe you need to read my post again.

I am with you when you demand to bring Spanish and Potugese governments to accountability. However, we will not forget English, French and Netherlands´governments, countries who were also involved big time.

 

[U2utah2U]

I do apologize. I know you didn't say "Nazis" overtly. It is just that I am not foud of comparisons made to the Holocost. I don't think anything can ever compare to the ugliness and evil of that event.

I still stand by my position that the problem of slavery still exists. Although some reparations may be in order for decendants of enslaved Africans, I would personally rather focus my attention on eradicting current human slavery conditions.

 

[hiphop]

I agree with you, U2utah2U, I too am not fond of comparisons like above mentioned. However, often people compare the atrocities of Communist leaders like Stalin to the Jewish Holocaust. I don ´t think this has any sense.

It is great if you work towards eradicating current human slavery conditions. I encourage you to get concrete. Speeches and thoughts are nice, but actions speak louder than words. I know what you mean by citing Mexico (Maquilladoras) and China (free trade zones).

However, given the fact that about 10,000 people are dying in Africa every day, one needs not only to focus on debt relief, or on fighting the negative effects of what is called Globalization, but also on massive payments in order to enhance living conditions in Africa. The International Reparations Movement does focus on this topic too.

Maybe you have heard of the World Conference against Racism, which was held in Durban a few years ago. The Reparations Movement was deeply alienated by the reactions of the delegations of certain states, notably the U.S. and European delegations, who chose to walk out of the meeting without listening to the call for condemning slavery as a crime.

All the arguments against Reparations, like "We are not responsible" etc., have been heard and considered many times. Still, they are repeated again and again. The motive behind those arguments is fear.

The rich have fear of payments. Actually, without wanting to go into details, the bill is so high that poverty eradication through the instrument of Reparations would not just be a word.

 

[bw in dc]

whenhiphopdrovethebigcars - do you realize the overwhelming majority of American's ancestors arrived after the abolition of slavery? If < 10% of America owned slaves during the slavery period, the likelihood that most American families of today have ties to slavery is miniscule at best.

I'm curious - do those who seek reparations for slavery also seek reparations for the thousands of Americans who fought bravely during the Civil War to free slaves?

 

[hiphop]

bw in dc - do you realize that American families who have no ties to slavery are not held responsible by the Reparations Movement? Do you also realize that the case discussed above is about a business that apologized for contributing to "a brutal and unjust institution" (as outlined in the article that Dreadsox posted) and not about a family ?

As to the Civil War:

Freeing the slaves was not a sufficient reason for the costly Civil War or “War of Secession” or (still more politically correct) “War Between The States”; the Northerners had started industrialization and were looking for markets, whereas the Southerners preferred importing good (and cheaper) British products in exchange for their cotton. The South wanted free trade, whereas the North wanted import duties to protect its own industry. That is why the North, by abolishing slavery, hoped to ruin the Southern plantation economy.

As of today, the ones who seek reparations for slavery do not seek reparations for Americans who fought bravely. No one is opposed to that, but it was a Civil War, and it would be up to the descendants of victims who died in this war to seek reparations, to be paid by those who were responsible for planning and executing the war. Also take into account that those who died in the "War between the States", were soldiers, not slaves.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

hi hiphop. glad to see you are still around and still stirring the pot.

 

[hiphop]

hi hiphop. glad to see you are still around and still stirring the pot.

Sula my schnuggeldarlingdear

Glad to see you! Hope everything is fine in Mali!

Blessings and Respect.

 

[Ft. Worth Frog]

I would hardly say that the Nirth was just looking to ruin the southern economy by abolishing slavery. Though the Civil War was not fought only b/c of slavery, many Northerners did not want its expansion for a variety of reasons. The causes were not solely economical. As a matter of fact, Lincoln's sole goal was the preservation of the Union.

ABout African slavery, it is a myth that slavery directly affected the whole continent. The vast majority of slaves were from West Africa in the area around the Bight. And if we can get reparations for the sins of generations long gone, then we can get reparations for anything. Sue Vasco Da Gama's descendants, Cortes' descendants, the ROmans for slaughtering the inhabitants of Carthage,etc.

 

[dazzledbylight]

To this day one thing remains certain. If you want to have the best chance at success, the best place is the United States - any color.

#ahem# and serious rascismstill exists for African-Americans in the usa.

There have those oh-so-'revealing' 'little' survey/tests with these very recent years [last 2] where Black folk set up with the very same stats/money etc to go by houses or rent higher end apartments, as their white co-workers in the experiment.

OH, can you guess what happened?

All the black 'buyers/renters' were turned down and their same white counter-parts were offered the very same places.

The origanal legacies of Slavery through into share-cropping, indentured servitude , jim crow in the South and rascism up north STILL lays booby-traps sometimes in individual encounters with people , often still in institutionalized delberate or sometime unconcious actions/policies.

Go to some of those Dominionist, Christian Reconstructionist sites-
half the peole on those boards are debating whether they should [ if taken over the USA govt] reinsistute Slavery here.

ANd vveeerrrryyyy interestion that most of the D/CR crowd lives in The South. :hmm; oh, we got our northern rascist up here. The Klan still has people in NJ. There are stickies in public telephones for the Aryan nation and NAAWP. from time to time.

Not to mention new text books in The South appearing again saying how good the African Slaves had it here in America. Oh, Slavery wasn't so bad after all. , otherwise I'd start crying in this public net cafe, and that would be a tad embarrassing.

Whatdoes it take for some of my fellow white folk to get you to understand that racism is alive and still well in the aspect of America that still exisits as [and I hated even seeing this appellation in the later 60's, <but esp what has been encouraged, or looked askance at by a lot of current high level officials in the past several years>] Amerka [i so to say ] still exists besides America.

btw hiphop thasnks for the article .

 

[Sherry Darling]

Just wanted to mention here that the debt cancellation movement has often considered such cancellation a form of reparations, not for slavery so much as for colonialism, neo-colonism (ie, economic colonialism via the IMF and WTO), and other such misuses of Western power. I am in full support of this. The debt of the developing world is ODIOUS, UNJUST, IMMORAL and by international law, ILLEGAL. It should be dropping not because we're nice and generous, but because of the odious manner in which the debt $$ was lent and spent under Western multi-lateral, governmental and private banks. We must stop rewarding reckless creditors.

Ok, I'm done now. That felt good.

Peace,
SD

 

[melon]

If you want to have the best chance at success, the best place is the United States - any color.

Just make sure you're heterosexual.

Melon