Regards, Ivan
Posted on 09/30/2002 11:03:16 PM PDT by MadIvan
A controversial campaign by black Americans to win compensation for the enslavement of their forefathers has taken a new twist following a pair of lawsuits in which the plaintiffs are the elderly sons of men pressed into slavery just before its abolition in 1865.
In San Francisco, 83-year-old Timothy Hurdle and his brother Chester, 75, claim to be the last surviving progeny of Andrew Jackson Hurdle, who was enslaved at the age of eight and went on to father children well into his twilight years. In Mississippi, the plaintiff in a separate lawsuit is a 119-year-old man, Edlee Bankhead, who says both of his parents were slaves.
These men, campaign advocates say, provide the closest biological link to the era of slavery and can best argue that their lives were directly affected by it.
In each case, the defendants are a group of companies, including Lloyds of London, which have been accused of profiting from insurance policies taken out by slaveholders. The other defendants are blue-chip financial companies including JP Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers and Brown Brothers Harriman; the railway companies Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific; a textile company, WestPoint Stevens; and tobacco companies, including RJ Reynolds and Brown and Williamson.
The lawsuits are being coordinated by a single activist based in New York, Deadria Farmer-Paellman. Her actions have been controversial even in the African American community, with some arguing in favour of righting a great historical wrong and others standing against black Americans continuing to play the role of eternal victim.
Legal experts say the suits have little chance of success because so much time has passed and because the tangible damage done by slavery to living African Americans is so hard to measure.
Interviewed recently, the Hurdle brothers said they had not filed the suit for themselves. "I don't want a penny out of anything," Chester said. "What I'd like to see is something done to help the future generations of our race."
The reparations movement has gathered some steam. A suit against the insurance giant Aetna did not result in any damages, but it did prompt a formal apology from the company. In California, a new state law requires companies to make records pertaining to slavery available to the public.
Aside from the suits against private companies, there are also plans to take action against longstanding institutions such as universities, and also against the federal government. A new flurry of forthcoming lawsuits is being co-ordinated by a high-level panel of academics and lawyers including Alexander Pires, who recently won a $1bn (£638m) discrimination suit against the Department of Agriculture; the writer and thinker Cornel West; and Johnnie Cochran, the lawyer who used racial discrimination arguments to acquit his most famous client, O J Simpson.
There have also been efforts in Congress to set up a reparations committee to investigate the issue. One liberal representative, John Conyers of Michigan, has proposed such a committee every year since 1989, without success.
Regards, Ivan
"but your ancestors..."
Since when is everyone liable for the sins of their ancestors? If they are, I suspect there is at least one nere-do-well in most people's past family tree somewhere. Families are not perpetual for the punishment of their members.
Besides, half my family ancestors were in Ireland. The other half were yankee abolitionists who fought for the north. I reserve the right to present a bill for certain services rendered later on. Sauce for the goose...
No, a lot of cash.
Well, Chester, it's really simple then. All you have to do is teach your children WHY you don't want a penny out of anything. Once they learn that, everything else will be gravy. It's called, pride and integrity my friend! You have it, unfortunately, the leaders of black America do not.
Well with a sigh (and a wry grin), I must open my wallet and the door of my flat, and get in touch with Jimmy Choo, mo mhúirnín bán.
However given the Irish inflicted Michael Flatley on the world, I demand reparations too, which we will discuss upon your arrival. ;)
Best Regards, Ivan
WHY, do I get the feeling this could end up costing me? ;-)
...the things a girl will do for a Jimmy Choo shoe ;-)
Well keep in mind, mo mhíle stór, Ireland has been independent for 80 years, meanwhile, Michael Flatley is still running around proclaiming himself Lord of the Dance, obviously acting out the phobias he got in Irish Dancing Class. ;)
Best Regards, Ivan
From Michael Flatley's Biography
The youngest son of Irish parents who immigrated to the U.S. after WWII, Flatley spent much of his childhood in their native Ireland, where he developed an affinity for the traditional form of Celtic dance. It is this form of dance that Flatley combined with ultramodern techniques and a synergistic blend of other styles to create Lord of the Dance.
...more than just an acquired passion, Irish dancing is a central element of Flatley's heritage. Both his mother and grandmother were Irish dance champions.
Sorry, dear, you're going to have to cough up. ;)
Best Regards, Ivan
It'd be unreasonable to ask you to pay that much, dear. ;)
Best Regards, Ivan
If she's made Ireland's ambassador to Outer Mongolia, I think we'll call it even. ;)
Best Regards, Ivan
Its good that we can, and should find the humor in this movement, but we need to be vigilant as well. The fact that a major insurance company has apologized, and that California (of course) has passed a law on the subject puts the camel's nose under the tent. Although the article doesn't state which universities are being approached, one can only imagine that its the usual gang of idiots led by Harvard, People's University of Michigan, UC Bezerkly, etc. They have such an ingrained hatred of America and such undue respect from "elites", that they will be key in the battle. In Michigan, during the democrat primary for governor, the (3) contenders pandered to the NAACP in proclaiming their support for reparations payments. Ivan, three of my ancestors came to Ohio in 1857 from England. (2) enlisted in the anti-slavery army and one gave his life. In the event that we get kicked out, would you be willing to check on whether the ancestral estate in England is still available?
Kinase follows John McMorran, born June 19, 1889; Charlotte Benkner, born Nov. 16, 1889; and Hazel Luther, born Dec. 11, 1889.
McMorran of Michigan is the oldest documented American at 113. He was born six months before Kinase.
Unfortunately, not a direct link. Click on "Human Body" at the top of Guinness World Records page.
No Edlee.
Nice try. Denis Leary is a Yank though. :)
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A few points to ponder: In a Les Kinsolving in a column in today's Worldnetdaily notes that 3400 free blacks owned black slaves from 1776 through 1865 according to U.S. Census records. So, how do U.S. blacks know they may not be distantly related to some of these black slave owners. More significantly what about the blacks related to white slave owners? Don't they have more of a need to compensate for the inheritence of sins of slavery than white late 19th Century immigrants?
The whole matter is bogus. It is irresponsible of those so-called "black leaders" to bring it up, not to mention the grievous insult it is to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
Yes, and to put a WHOLE LOT of money in the hands of such trustworthy people as the Rev. Jackson, Al Sharpton, et.al., and the rank and file will never see a dime. The chumps are just being used again. So what if the long-term cost would be to make black Americans appear to be perpetual leeches in the eyes of all other ethnic groups in the U.S? So what if it causes a permanent anger and resentment against blacks? Well, that's okay, just tell 'em they're racists for feeling disgusted.
Looks to me like they're really going after the deep pocketed insurance companies, banks, etc. that had anything to do with the slave trade over 137 years ago. Extort bucks from them to make the black "leadership" go away, and let a few really loathsome bloodsuckers make off with the loot.
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