Slavery Reparations: Hacking At Leaves, Ignoring Roots

January 24, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment

Associated Press writer Ashley M. Heher recently reported that, “Lawyers for slave descendants asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to revive a landmark reparations case that demands 17 of the nation’s insurers and banks publicize and pay for their roles in the country’s slave trade. The case, which names Wall Street behemoths JP Morgan Chase & Co., Aetna Inc., Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and others, says the companies’ predecessors issued loans to slave owners and, in some cases, owned, insured and transported slaves…all at a financial profit that helped ensure their success today.”

Slavery was an awful stain upon the fabric of our nation, and it continues to negatively impact us today. Yet if we are to move beyond the suffering and heal the wounds caused by slavery, it will take