Posted on 04/30/2005 5:21:01 AM PDT by Founding Father
Bank of America insists it can't find slave profits in its past
April 30, 2005
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Under fire from the City Council's champion for slave reparations, Bank of America stuck to its guns Friday: The bank has hired a researcher to dig deeper but has so far has uncovered no evidence that a predecessor bank invested in or profited from the slave trade.
To the contrary, Bank of America said its research suggests that the predecessor, Providence Bank, "distanced itself from and declined to support slavery-related activities." That's even though John Brown -- Providence Bank's founding president, director and shareholder -- was a well-known slave owner who arranged for the transportation of slaves.
Founded in 1791, Providence Bank is a predecessor of Fleet Boston, which was acquired by Bank of America last year.
"First, the research disclosed no evidence establishing that the Providence Bank had investments or profits from slavery. Second, there is no indication of the source of the funds used by Brown to purchase his 23 shares in the bank. Last, the evidence suggests that the bank, in fact, avoided slave-related activities of John Brown or any other bank customer," said the bank's attorney V. Duncan Johnson.
'We won't stop'
Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd) accused "arrogant" bank officials of providing "selective and fraudulent" information to a joint City Council committee.
Tillman said research conducted by her daughter at some of the same places Bank of America looked -- the Rhode Island Historical Society and Brown University Library -- has already produced evidence that Providence Bank made loans used to purchase ships that transported slaves.
"The whole reason the bank was founded was so that the merchants could have a bank for their money to go through. Their whole existence was slavery. They had no other existence," she said.
"They thought they could bring this lawyer in and lie and just say, 'Moses Brown [John's brother] was an abolitionist. You see, they were good guys.' The lawyer's job was to protect Bank of America -- not to get to the truth. And we won't stop until we get to the truth."
Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) cautioned Tillman not to "toss around the words 'fraud' and 'misrepresentation.' "
"It is the opinion of the chair that there has been no fraudulent conduct on the part of these witnesses," he said.
Black, Jewish aldermen clash
Ald. Burton F. Natarus (42nd) also urged Tillman to take a deep breath -- prompting an uncomfortable clash between black and Jewish aldermen.
"Prior to the Civil War, you're going to find almost every one of these corporations were involved with the institution of slavery. You're going to find it, and no matter what you do, you can't hide it. But the problem is, how long are you going to badger them with it?" Natarus said.
That infuriated Tillman, who reminded Natarus that African-American aldermen had supported him in the threat to punish Swiss banks that ultimately resulted in the return to Holocaust victims of hundreds of millions of dollars in gold looted by conquering German armies.
"The Jewish community -- your community -- received reparations. What happened to them was wrong. And you were relentless in making sure that anybody and everybody who had anything to do with the Holocaust would be brought to justice . . . What we're saying is, we have a right to be repaid," Tillman said.
Ald. William Beavers (7th) added, "You want to know how long it's going to go on? It's going to go on as long as the Holocaust. The Holocaust is never going to end, and this is never going to end. So when we support you, you support us."
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Sick.
Forgot to add that Yankees didn't know what a pretty woman looked like until they went South. Ask anyone.
Check for us, please.
A vast majority were White and the debt (if there ever was one) has been paid for a long, long time.
I've really got to keep my eye out for a good set of encyclopedias from 1963. The rewriting of history continues unabated.
Well, someone is just going to have to look a little harder now aren't they??!!
Approximately 350,000 Federal deaths (both battle deaths and disease). Of that, over 310,000 where of European ancestry. Many, as my g-g-uncle did, volunteered and left a family fatherless and destitute. The debt has been paid many times over in blood. His tombstone reads “ ----- gave his life that the black man may be free” How many of those brave young men that gave their lives and their future families are every even acknowledged by the so called black leaders of today. What a croc.
The children of those left back in Africa, if they survived at all, have begotten a generation of oppressed, poverty stricken and malnourished third world victims of tribal warfare. One could make a more sound argument that the progeny of American slaves owe a big acclamation of thanks to the forces that brought their ancestors to these shores. In short, they "owe" someone for their good fortune.
maybe there wasn't any?????
All the rest of what some folks have planned is just pure BS.
They volunteered to shoot Rebels, not get hurt!
New Yorkers probably threw all care to the wind, but folks from the American Midwest had farms to take care of and injury to their reproductive capacity brought about by an indiscrete daliance meant economic disaster!
It is an error to project current beliefs and standards back on earlier generations who had different problems.
You really don't know how to read do you? I'd suggest you click back to the post to which I responded.
Well, that could be ~ they'd been out there in the swamps and woods for quite some time, and their Northern ladies (unlike their Southern cousins) were ploughing the fields themselves.
Bank of America is headquartered in North Carolina.
Reparations is a very important issue, so vital I think Democrats should make this the cornerstone of their thrust to retake the White House. And why is it still called the "White" House?
I hope you just forgot your sarcasm tag.
Not only do I know how to read...I know how to read both the lines and between them.
Yours are sick, through and through, intentionally or as evidence of ignorance. Take your pick--I'll not insult you by assuming.
Well, You are WRONG. And I might add that many of the Union Soldiers who did the fighting, would disagree.
People like Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine, Or Ulysses Simpson Grant, or George Meade, just to name a few.
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