Race, Racism and the Law 
Speaking Truth to Power!!

CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL HEARING
ON JP MORGAN CHASE MANTTAN BANK MERGER

March 5, 2004

Testimony of Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann

My name is Deadria Farmer-Paellmann. I am Executive Director of the Restitution Study Group – a not-for-profit organization that examines approaches to securing restitution for injuries inflicted upon oppressed people. I was also lead plaintiff in class action litigation against JP Morgan Chase Manhattan Bank and 18 other companies due to their historical roles in the enslavement of Africans.

I wish to thank Alderman Dorothy Tillman and the Judiciary Committee for your bold leadership in holding modern companies accountable for their complicity in slavery through this hearing and your prior passage of the Slavery Era Disclosure Ordinance.

I thank you all for this opportunity to contribute to the general understanding of slavery through my testimony.

I come before you today to inform you of the dangers of the merger of JP Morgan Chase Manhattan Bank with Bank One – an Illinois-based Bank, if JP Morgan Chase does not pay reparations as demanded by slave descendants.

First let me say that my role in the struggle for slavery began as a law student at New England School of Law, in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1997. I went to law school specifically to develop a case for slavery reparations. I thought the case would be against the federal government for the forty-acres and a mule promised in General Sherman’s Field Order 15 during the Civil War. However, due to legal hurdles in litigating against the federal government, including sovereign immunity, I began focusing on corporations and private estates that were built on slavery, as targets for reparations demands.

I took a class called Race and the Law, taught by Robert V. Ward, now Dean of Southern New England School of Law. I choose to present a case for reparations that required me to research my family roots to link myself to a particular company.

o conduct the complicated genealogy research required to trace enslaved ancestors, I referred to the book, Black Genealogy, by Charles L. Blockson. Blockson suggested that one source of tracing enslaved ancestors was slave life insurance policies. He directs readers to Aetna Incorporated, the Insurance Company of North America, and Lloyd’s of London, as sources of such policies because they used to write them.

This was my first encounter with modern-day corporations that played a role in slavery.

In January of 2000, motivated by a desire for justice in the new millennium, I called Aetna to request copies of their slave policies. An enthusiastic Archivist sent copies of two policies, and a group of circulars from life insurance companies that competed with Aetna in its slave policy business. I conducted preliminary research on all the circulars and traced one circular to Chase Manhattan Bank.

Prior to making this critical link, I asked Aetna to apologize for its role in slavery and to pay restitution. On March 10, 2000, they issued an unprecedented public apology for their role in slavery. Although they also promised me they would pay restitution to benefit slave descendants, they choose not to do so.

I contacted several other companies I traced to slavery making the same requests to no avail.

By September 2000, I had completed research around Chase Manhattan Bank. Using the online New York State Banking History Database, I traced two of JP Morgan Chase’s earlier banks, The Merchant’s Bank of New York, and The Leather Manufacturers Bank of New York, to a slave policy circular. They are listed as the exclusive bankers for a $2.5 million venture in writing slave life insurance policies in 1852. This amount of money is substantial for that time. Other slave policy writing ventures I have encountered did not exceed $300,000 in capital investments.

The company in which this investment was made was the National Loan Fund Life Assurance Company of London. The policies were to be written on the lives of enslaved people in Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. Some of the wealthiest people of that time were listed as members of the board of directors in this venture such as George Barclay. Some were prominent tobacco planters and shippers such as Henry Ludlam of Virginia.

The local operation of this venture involved insurance agents and medical examiners. Medical examiners were required to inspect enslaved Africans before a policy could be written.

Many insurance companies practiced the writing of slave life insurance policies in 19th Century United States. The effect of this practice was to provide the financial backing necessary to give potential slave owners motivation to purchase human chattel – a very expensive investment. The policies gave slave owners the security necessary to employ enslaved Africans in ultra-hazardous capacities.

In exchange for this security, insurers required medical inspections to be sure that they could profit from writing policies. Further, they never insured an African for full value. The circular indicates that JP Morgan’s early bank helped cover "three-fourths the actual cash value" of the enslaved African. The circular, listing fifty-five businessmen and their institutions, is submitted to the record.

On September 18, 2000, I wrote a letter to William Harrison, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank, and requested that they verify that such policies were written, and if so, that they apologize and create a restitution trust fund to benefit the descendants of enslaved Africans.

By October 27, 2000, Lynne Federman, one of Chase’s Vice Presidents, wrote back saying the matter was under investigation and that she would contact me directly. I was never contacted.

During the course of the reparations litigation, I learned that a report was prepared about the matter; however, the report has never been made public. I have never seen it or been offered a copy. I urge this panel to demand a copy of the report.

Subsequent to my communications with Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000, they merged with JP Morgan, but not without inquiries at the Federal Reserve Board about their possible connection to slavery. At that time, Chase Manhattan Bank indicated that the matter was being investigated and that they would take full responsibility for issues arising out of the investigation.

In January of 2003, JP Morgan Chase was added to the list of companies against whom reparations lawsuits were filed. The filing took place in Texas. In response to the filing, a JP Morgan Chase spokesperson said no evidence exists linking the bank to slavery.

Tom Johnson, of the bank, is quoted in the Houston Chronicle, on January 21, saying: "We’ve found nothing to indicate that we were involved in any of the (slave) transactions that are being quoted in articles about the lawsuit."

This statement raises major questions about the veracity of the company. Is the company violating state consumer protection laws by making misleading statements about their history – a history that would motivate many consumers to take their business elsewhere?

If there is no connection between JP Morgan Chase and slavery, what do we make of the circular from Aetna’s archives? What about the $2.5 million capital investment advertised in the 1852 circular – what became of that? Also, would fifty-five bankers, doctors, insurers, shippers, and others advertise a venture that was never launched?

The public and their consumers, have a right to know the truth!

I urge this committee to uncover that truth. JP Morgan Chase Manhattan Bank must release their investigative report on this matter.

BANK HOLDING COMPANY ACT CONSIDERATIONS

With respect to the potential merger of JP Morgan Chase and Bank One, the historical and current actions around the issue of slavery raise factors the Federal Reserve Board is required to consider under the Bank Holding Company Act -- such as "the financial and managerial resources and future prospects of the companies and banks involved in a merger proposal".

Future Prospects and Financial Resources

The prospects for this merger are clear – news reports indicate that high profile litigation teams are preparing new reparations lawsuits against companies, including JP Morgan Chase. The new entity comprised of JP Morgan Chase and Bank One will be forced to fight expensive legal battles that JP Morgan Chase could resolve right now. The prospect is that their financial resources will be adversely affected by this litigation.

In addition to the litigation, there is the prospect of more financial woes due to actions by state and local governments, such as you. Laws, modeled after your Slavery Era Disclosure Ordinance, are being ntroduced and passed around this country requiring disclosure of ties to slavery. Besides you, Los Angeles has slavery disclosure laws, and New York City and Cleveland, Ohio, have pending disclosure bills.

Disclosure laws are making life more difficult for companies that are trying to hide their tainted histories. The laws force them to tell the whole truth about their connections to slavery. When a company reports, it becomes exposed to more reparations lawsuits. If a company is found to have failed to disclose the truth, they could loose lucrative contracts with state and local governments.

One example of a company caught in the crosshairs of Chicago’s slavery disclosure law is Lehman Brothers. As you know, Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman introduced the slavery disclosure bill that became a City ordinance in October of 2002, and took effect at the beginning of 2003. Consequently, last year Lehman Brothers was forced to disclose its connection to slavery, or forgo a $145 million contract with the City. In January of this year, just one month after the media reported on the disclosure filing, a new class action lawsuit for reparations was filed against Lehman Brothers. In addition, an investigation is underway to determine whether their disclosure was incomplete. If Lehman Brothers is found to have distorted their history, they could loose their contract with the City.

This merger will make JP Morgan Chase/Bank One of the ten largest companies in the world. If this is true, their financial exposure to ongoing slavery reparations litigation and disclosure laws could have a profound impact on the nation’s banking system, the national economy, and certainly the City of Chicago. Considering these factors, this merger should not be allowed to go forward, until JP Morgan Chase tells the truth about their history, pays reparations, and changes a legacy of shame, to a future of dignity and respect for humanity.

Slavery and debt

Published Feb 13, 2005 10:24 PM

JP Morgan Chase, the second-biggest bank in the U.S., put it ever so delicately: "[The bank] had predecessors that had customers that appear to have used enslaved individuals."

That is how a Jan. 20 statement began that was written so as not to offend--well, not to offend those tied to the slave owners, anyway. JP Morgan Chase offered its "apologies" for its links to slavery, admitting that its predecessor banks had "accepted approximately 13,000 enslaved individuals as collateral on loans and took ownership of approximately 1,250 of them when the plantation owners defaulted on the loans."

It is the tip of an iceberg. The role of the banks in financing slavery, particularly New York banks that were also tied in with the cotton trade, remains mostly a hidden history in this country. Even JP Morgan Chase's statement hides this history, attributing all of its transgressions to a Louisiana-based bank that it merged with in the 1930s. This month--Black History Month--would be a very good time to expose the full history of JP Morgan Chase and the other Wall Street institutions in the enslavement of African peoples before slavery was abolished by the Civil War.

A movement has grown up in this country among the descendants of the enslaved Africans to demand reparations from those who became rich through slavery. One case brought to court named JP Morgan Chase as one of 18 companies involved in slavery. The list also included Lloyds of London, FleetBoston, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Brown & Williamson, CSX Corporation and Lehman Brothers.

The wealth of these giant banks, financial institutions and corporate monopolies is immense. Yet it was gained from the stolen labor of enslaved peoples. Any fair-minded person would agree that they owe reparations, big time.

There's really no reason that the reparations owed should be limited to those who live in this country. The countries of Africa were devastated by the European slavers, who delivered their human cargoes mostly to the Americas. The devastation was so deep that recovery has been impossible to this day.

In "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa," Walter Rodney gives the details: "No one has been able to come up with a figure representing total losses to the African population sustained through the extraction of slave labor from all areas to all destinations over the many centuries that slave trade existed. However, on every other continent from the 15th century onwards, the population showed constant and sometimes spectacular natural increase; while it is striking that the same did not apply to Africa."

Rodney explains further: "All of the countries named as 'underdeveloped' in the world are exploited by others; and the underdevelopment with which the world is now preoccupied is a product of capitalist, imperialist and colonialist exploitation.

African and Asian societies were developing independently until they were taken over directly or indirectly by the capitalist powers. When that happened, exploitation increased and the export of surplus ensued, depriving the societies of the benefit of their natural resources and labor. That is an integral part of underdevelopment in the contemporary sense."

So what happened when the world's seven imperialist powers--the U.S., Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Canada--met as the Group of Seven in early February? They made a showy announcement of an "African debt relief plan." The news reports said that they would be "forgiving the debt of some of the world's poorest countries." The fine print of what they are actually doing was quite different.

Turns out to be another publicity stunt, when what is really needed now is not just full cancellation of all "debt," but also payment of reparations. Only such a payment can begin to end the poverty and devastation that is the legacy of slavery and imperialism.

Bank of America Becomes Fourth Bank to Admit Ties to Slavery

released on 08/25/05

Saadiq Mance
Emerging Minds News

Atlanta, GA (emergingminds.org) - In a report released Wednesday, the Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) became the fourth bank in the United States to disclose links to slavery. The admission comes as a result of a 2002 Chicago law that any company doing business with the city must reveal past slavery ties.

However, according to the Chicago Sun Times, Bank of America claims that its predecessor banks never held slaves and they could not find a case where they made any profits from slaves.

As a result, Bank of America pledged only $5 million over a three-year period for institutions and programs involved in preserving African-American history. In addition, Bank of America said that the $5 million offer will build on existing commitments, inferring that no new initiatives will be started.

Kenneth D. Lewis, the Chairman and CEO of Bank of America, makes an annual salary of $7.21 million. Additionally, as of June 30 2005 Bank of America reported assets of $1.25 trillion and a quarterly net income of $4.30 billion.

With Bank of America's extraordinary income statement and balance sheet that would never have been possible without the forced servitude of Africans, Bank of America’s $5 million dollar pledge has been received by the Black community as insulting and pathetic.

The Chicago Sun Times reports that Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman of Chicago, who introduced the Chicago legislation for companies to disclose ties to slavery, said that the report was "disingenuous" and that she had evidence that Bank of America predecessor Providence Bank engaged in the slave trade, including the manufacture of leg irons. Tillman also said that the bank lied about past ties to slavery in an affidavit submitted in connection with its role as senior manager of a $500 million city refinancing deal.

Bank of America’s admission of guilt to ties with slavery comes in the wake of Wachovia Corporations admission of guilt for building its company from money made from the forced servitude of Africans that were brutally brainwashed after they were kidnapped from their native lands. Wachovia reported assets of $511.8 billion as of June 30 2005 and in 2004 made $25 billion in community loans and investments to revitalize neighborhoods, and donated more than $82 million to charities.

As a result of Wachovia’s admission of guilt for slavery the company told the press that it plans to distribute only $10 million over a five year period through a string of new and enhanced partnerships with at least two of the "good ol’ boys" of civil rights pacifiers, the United Negro College Fund and the NAACP.

Wachovia and now Bank of America’s “greasing” of the hands of the “safe” Black organizations without any accountability are just the latest in a string of corporations who have dictated to the Black community how they will distribute money pledged in the name of repairing past wrongs due to slavery in the United States of America. Within the last 2 years, there have been more than half a billion dollars promised by private corporations without any accountability.

Other similar admissions and / or monetary pledges have been made by J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, American General, Nationwide Life Insurance, and Lehman Brothers. None of which have been taken to task by America’s Black Community.

Wachovia apologizes for slavery ties
Bank satisfies Chicago ordinance requiring companies with city contracts to disclose slavery ties.June 2, 2005: 1:08 PM EDT
By Katie Benner, CNN/Money staff writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Wachovia Corporation has apologized for its ties to slavery after disclosing that two of its historical predecessors owned slaves and accepted them as payment.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia (down $0.27 to $51.08, Research) issued a 111-page report to comply with a Chicago ordinance that requires companies that do business with the city to disclose whether they profited from slavery, which ended in the United States in 1865.

"On behalf of Wachovia Corporation, I apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans and people of African descent," said Ken Thompson, Wachovia chairman and chief executive officer, in the statement released late Wednesday. "We are deeply saddened by these findings."

Historians at the History Factory, a research firm specializing in corporate archival work, found that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company and the Bank of Charleston -- institutions that ultimately became part of Wachovia through acquisitions -- owned slaves, Wachovia said in the statement.

Records revealed that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company owned at least 162 slaves, Wachovia said, and that the Bank of Charleston accepted at least 529 slaves as collateral on mortgaged properties or loans. The Bank of Charleston also acquired an undetermined number of people when customers defaulted on their loans.

"We know that we cannot change the past, and we can't make up for the wrongs of slavery," said Thompson. "But we can learn from our past, and begin a stronger dialogue about slavery and the experience of African-Americans in our country."

"We want to promote a better understanding of the African-American experience, including the unique struggles, triumphs and contributions of African-Americans, and their important role in America's past and present," he added.

The announcement comes as a handful of cities nationwide propose initiatives requiring banks and other large companies to investigate and disclose ties to slavery.

Lawsuits have also been filed over the past few years by descendents of slaves, who seek billions of dollars in reparations from companies for their ties to slavery. These companies include R.J. Reynolds (up $0.29 to $82.90, Research) and Aetna (down $0.12 to $78.73, Research).

Fellow banking giant J.P. Morgan (down $0.39 to $35.37, Research) released a similar disclosure in January, also in order to comply with Chicago's slavery ordinance, bank spokesman Tom Kelly told CNN/Money.

After revealing that a predecessor institution in Louisiana used slaves as collateral, JP Morgan apologized for its ties to slavery, and established a $5 million college scholarship program for African-American students from Louisiana.

The Chicago ordinance, which went into effect January 2003, was designed, "to promote full and accurate disclosure to the public about any slavery policies sold by any companies, or profits from slavery by other industries (or their predecessors) who are doing business with the city."

There is no penalty for companies that disclose they had ties to slavery, but as with any disclosure, companies that make false statements can have their contract with the city voided.

Along with Chicago, Richmond, Va., Philadelphia and Los Angeles also require companies that do business within city limits to disclose financial ties with slavery. City council members in Berkeley, Calif., proposed an ordinance this week that would nullify city contracts with companies that do not acknowledge past practices that aided slavery.

Wachovia has made the full research report available on its Web site, and said it plans to partner with community organizations to further awareness of African-American history.

 http://usnationalslaverymuseum.org/home.asp