Ancestor of slaves finally seeks amends

A woman whose ancestors were slaves sued three major companies for profiting from slavery for nearly two centuries.

The insurance company Aetna, the financial group FleetBoston and CSX, a railroad company are being sued on behalf of the 35 million American descendants of African slaves.

According to the Associated Press, the lawyers of plaintiff Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, a law school graduate, said the lawsuits were the first to seek slavery reparations from private companies.

The lawsuits seek class-action status and could be expanded to include more companies.

The three suits, which seek unspecified damages, claimed that as many as 1,000 unidentified corporations may have benefited from slave labor between 1619 and 1865. None of the money sought will be put to personal use.

Rather, all money won from the lawsuit will be put into funds for education, health care and housing for blacks.

“This is not about individuals receiving checks in their mailbox,” attorney Roger Wareham said. It has been a long time coming, but finally someone is demanding that America fulfill its promise made so many years ago.

Someone is doing something more than spreading Internet hoaxes and marching to the state capitol.

Sure, slavery was a long time ago. But this isn’t a child support case.

The government has a debt to pay, and there is no legal and binding contract with the United States government for them to pay their debt.

No one seems to bring up the fact that if the government had simply fulfilled their contract, rather than going out of their way to avoid it, this wouldn’t be happening.

Forty acres and a mule per freed slave would’ve been much cheaper than whatever amount of money that Farmer-Paellmann is suing for.

The sins of the fathers are often visited upon the sons, and this isn’t an exception.

America: After over 150 years of your thievery, scheming, and oppression, your chickens are coming home to roost. If things go right, it’ll cost you.

– J. Danielle Daniels for the Editorial Board.