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April 18, 2002
Federal Lawsuit Seeks Slave Reparations from Three Companies
by William Baue
African-American attorneys filed a class-action lawsuit against three companies that allegedly
profited from slavery, either directly or through acquired companies.
SocialFunds.com --
Late last month, African-American attorney Deadria Farmer-Paellmann filed a class-action lawsuit in
a Brooklyn federal court seeking reparation of profits gained through slavery by three prominent
U.S. companies. The 21-page lawsuit charged Hartford-based insurer Aetna Inc. (ticker: AET),
Virginia-based railway company CSX
Corp. (CSX), and FleetBoston
Financial Corp. (FBF) with specific economic enrichment from slavery. The lawsuit represents a
new tactic in the reparations movement, which in the past sought compensation from state and
federal governments, by refocusing responsibility on corporate America.
 Ms. Farmer-Paellmann first identified
corporate ties to slavery while researching her family’s genealogy through old insurance
policies. Prior to 1865, many companies insured against the loss of slave labor. Ms.
Farmer-Paellmann researched further, documenting many companies’ ties to slavery. She earned
her law degree with the specific purpose of litigating slave reparations.
In early 2000,
Ms. Farmer-Paellmann approached Aetna with evidence of policies issued to slaveowners insuring the
loss of lives of human chattel, and she requested both an apology and economic restitution. Aetna
immediately issued the former.
“[W]e express our deep regret over any participation
at all in this deplorable practice,” stated Aetna in a March 2000 press release, referring to
the insuring of slave lives. “We believe that any policy decisions made in the distant past
are today more than outweighed by our record of diversity and support of fairness and equality for
all people. We have concluded that, beyond our apology, no further actions are required,”
the statement continued.
The apology was unprecedented, as few corporations have gone on
record acknowledging and expressing sorrow for their role in slavery. But reparations activists
believe in the necessity of more concrete gestures. Slavery as an economic institution diverted
wealth from those whose work generated it, predominantly slaves of African descent, to those who
created the unjust sociopolitical structure, predominantly whites.
CSX similarly expressed
regret over the history of slavery, but stated that the courtroom was not the right place to
redress wrongs committed more than a century ago. Further complicating the issue in this instance
is the fact that CSX was founded in 1980, and is being held accountable for the actions of
companies that it acquired. FleetBoston has likewise inherited responsibility for the actions of
its predecessor, Providence Bank, which was founded by a Rhode Island businessman named John Brown
who capitalized substantially on the slave trade.
These three companies, and hundreds of
others that have been documented as profiting from slavery, hold that responsibility for events of
the distant past, however unfortunate, cannot be borne by present-day employees and shareowners.
The law may support them, in that slavery was a legal institution at the time the charges took
place, and furthermore, the statute of limitations has long since expired.
The
reparations movement does not view the legacy of slavery as sealed in the past, but rather as a
link to present-day racial inequalities disparities in wealth distribution. While it would be
impossible to redistribute all the wealth diverted from black slaves to white society, reparations
activists believe that documented instances of unjust enrichment should be repaid. The suit names
actual descendents of slaves as defendants, but attorneys believe that the symbolic gesture of
reparations will benefit African American society in general, aiding in a more complete healing
from slavery’s wounds
Both CSX and Aetna point to their actions of the present and
near past, which have contributed to creating what the suit seeks--a more equitable and diverse
workplace and society. Over the past two decades, Aetna has invested more than $36.5 million in
African American communities, supporting education/leadership development, health, community
partnerships, economic development and minority-owned businesses.
This lawsuit may
represent the tip of the iceberg. The Reparations Coordinating Committee, which includes such
prominent African Americans as Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, scholar Cornel West, and
trial lawyer Johnnie Cochran, promises to file lawsuits against as many as 60 additional companies.
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