By Jason Kratzwald
A landmark federal lawsuit was filed in a New York Federal Court on March 27, seeking reparations against three domestic corporations on behalf of the 35 million American descendants of African slaves. The suit, filed by Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, who is a fifth generation descendent of African American slaves, is the first such suit filed in the federal judiciary to seek slavery reparations from private U.S. companies.
This reparation suit names FleetBoston Financial, the railroad firm CSX and the Aetna insurance company, and promises to name up to 100 additional corporations at a later date. Paellmann argues that between the years of 1790 and 1860, these three companies engaged in conspiracy, human rights violations, and unjust enrichment from their corporate predecessors’ roles in the slave trade and conversion of the value of the slaves’ labor into their profits. If the suit is won, Paellmann seeks to reimburse descendants of American slaves during this time period a figure of 1.4 trillion dollars.
It was just the other day I was thinking to myself that the injustices of slavery were the entire fault of Aetna, CSX, and FleetBoston. It was these three corporations that went to Africa in pre-American revolutionary times and disrupted native tribes by enslaving men and women. It was these companies who whipped, killed, and doused the dreams of the entire African American population in the 18th century. Satire is another word for sarcasm, and I am being sarcastic.
Aetna, CSX and FleetBoston are no more guilty of slavery than your Aunt Edna. Laws during the time period of 1790-1860 permitted slavery, and slaves were viewed as property. Aetna is an insurance company, and it insured slaves as property under accordance with United States laws during this era. If something unfortunate happened to the property, Aetna paid for the damages. This practice of insuring slaves ended with the Emancipation Proclamation, when the law was changed to recognize the enslaved Africans as citizens, not property.
The next major company named in the suit is CSX Railroad. The suit alleges that CSX, based in Richmond, Virginia, is a successor to numerous railroads that were built or run, at least in part, by slave labor. A successor to numerous railroads that were built in part by slave labor? Does this make them responsible for slavery and liable for billions of dollars? Companies buy each other up every day, and this is called capitalism. It is completely ridiculous to say that this company is liable in any way for slavery, because CSX was not even formed until 1980.
The final company named in the suit is FleetBoston. The lawsuit notes that FleetBoston is a successor to Providence Bank, which it says was founded by Rhode Island slave trader John Brown. That is the only reason this company was named in the suit. Because the founder of its successor owned some slaves.
Deadria Farmer-Paellmann is a recent law school graduate and is being used as a pawn by African American leaders who are viscously engaged in the argument of slave reparations. Unfortunately, all those white guys that engaged in the slave trade are dead, and you can now only attempt to sue corporations that, in some form or fashion, were founded or led by a slave owner five generations earlier. Attempting to hold American corporations liable for 80 years of slavery is almost comical. Reparations for slavery need to be directed at the federal government, and not American industry. If this suit somehow manages to find these three corporations responsible for slavery, I will move to Canada with Aunt Edna. Get your lawsuits ready, it is going to be a bumpy reparation ride.
Jason Kratzwald is a senior communications major and columnist for The Cardinal. jasonkratzwald@aol.com
