Nov 4, 2000 - 11:56 AM
Lawyers Planning Suit for African-American Slave
Reparations
By Paul Shepard
The Associated Press
A powerful group of civil rights and class-action lawyers who have
won billions of dollars in court are preparing a lawsuit seeking
reparations for American blacks descended from slaves.
The project, called the Reparations Assessment Group, was
confirmed by Harvard law professor Charles J. Ogletree and
appears to be the most serious effort yet to get American blacks
compensated for 244 years of legalized slavery. Lawsuits and
legislation dating back to the mid-1800s have gone nowhere.
"We will be seeking more than just monetary compensation,"
Ogletree said. "We want a change in America. We want full
recognition and a remedy of how slavery stigmatized, red,
murdered and exploited millions of Africans through no fault of their
own."
Ogletree said the group, which includes famed attorney Johnnie
Cochran, first met in July and will hold its fourth meeting in
Washington D.C. later this month.
"This country has never dealt with slavery. It is America's
nightmare. A political solution would be the most sensible but I
don't have a lot of faith that's going to happen. So we need to look
aggressively at the legal alternative," Ogletree said.
For now, there are more questions than answers in the planned
litigation. Left to be determined are when the suit will be filed,
exactly who will be named as defendants and what damages will
be sought.
Ogletree declined to discuss specifics but said the federal
government, state governments and private entities such as
corporations and institutions that benefited from slave labor could
be targets of the legal action.
"Both public and private parties will be the subject of our efforts,"
he said.
Ogletree said the Reparation Assessment Group includes
attorneys Cochran and Alexander J. Pires Jr., who won a $1 billion
settlement for black farmers who claimed discrimination by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture; Richard Scruggs, who won the
$368.5 billion settlement for states against tobacco companies;
Dennis C. Sweet III, who won a $400 million settlement in the
"phen-fen" diet drug case; and Willie E. Gary, who won a $500
million judgment against the Loewen Group Inc., the world's
largest funeral home operators.
Also in the group is Randall Robinson, president of the TransAfrica
Forum, a think tank specializing in African, Caribbean and
African-American issues. Robinson recently wrote the book "The
Debt: What America Owes to Blacks," which argues for
reparations.
"This will be the most important case in the history of our country,"
Pires said Friday. "We all agree the suit has to tell the story of
what slavery has done to blacks in America ...
"We are still suffering from slavery's impacts today," Pires said.
Ogletree said the assessment group will call on experts in
education, politics, family development, health and economics to
help trace how slavery's outgrowths such as segregated schooling
and neighborhoods have affected society today.
Enslavement of Africans in America began in the 1600s. A slave
sale was recorded in 1619 in Jamestown, Va. The "peculiar
institution" helped to fuel the prosperity of the young nation, while
also dividing it. Slavery was not officially abolished until the 1863,
during the Civil War.
Reparation supporters point to recent cases where groups have
been compensated in cash for historic indignities and harm.
A letter of formal apology and $20,000 were given by the U.S.
government to each Japanese-American held in internment camps
during World War II.
Austria last week established a $380 million fund to compensate
tens of thousands of Nazi-era slave laborers who were born in six
eastern European countries.
Reparation opponents argue that victims in the Nazi and
Japanese-American cases were directly harmed while many
generations separate enslaved blacks and their modern-day
descendants.
In addition, those opposed to reparations say it isn't fair for
taxpayers and corporations who never owned slaves to be
burdened with possible multibillion dollar settlements.
Neither Ogletree nor Pires mentioned any industry or company
that could be a target of the suit.
But Pires said there were overlaps between the slavery of past
centuries and today's corporations. He noted that Aetna Inc., the
nation's largest health insurer, apologized earlier this year for
selling policies in the 1850s that reimbursed slave owners for
financial losses when their slaves died.
In July, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant newspaper published a
front-page apology for running ads for slave sales and the
recapture of runaways in the 1700s and 1800s. Such
advertisements were commonplace in many newspapers until the
Civil War.
Pires was one of the lawyers in the assessment group who
discussed reparations in the November issue of Harper's
magazine.
Pires said he believes that any monetary settlement or damage
figure should be among the last items discussed as the suit takes
shape. He said it is more important to tell the story to all
Americans of what slavery did to the country "and let people
decide what should be done to repay."
"Most people," he said, "don't like having dirt on their hands."
AP-ES-11-04-00 1156EST
© Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Brought to you by the Tampa Bay Online Network
Lawyers Planning Suit for African-American Slave
Reparations
By Paul Shepard
The Associated Press
A powerful group of civil rights and class-action lawyers who have
won billions of dollars in court are preparing a lawsuit seeking
reparations for American blacks descended from slaves.
The project, called the Reparations Assessment Group, was
confirmed by Harvard law professor Charles J. Ogletree and
appears to be the most serious effort yet to get American blacks
compensated for 244 years of legalized slavery. Lawsuits and
legislation dating back to the mid-1800s have gone nowhere.
"We will be seeking more than just monetary compensation,"
Ogletree said. "We want a change in America. We want full
recognition and a remedy of how slavery stigmatized, red,
murdered and exploited millions of Africans through no fault of their
own."
Ogletree said the group, which includes famed attorney Johnnie
Cochran, first met in July and will hold its fourth meeting in
Washington D.C. later this month.
"This country has never dealt with slavery. It is America's
nightmare. A political solution would be the most sensible but I
don't have a lot of faith that's going to happen. So we need to look
aggressively at the legal alternative," Ogletree said.
For now, there are more questions than answers in the planned
litigation. Left to be determined are when the suit will be filed,
exactly who will be named as defendants and what damages will
be sought.
Ogletree declined to discuss specifics but said the federal
government, state governments and private entities such as
corporations and institutions that benefited from slave labor could
be targets of the legal action.
"Both public and private parties will be the subject of our efforts,"
he said.
Ogletree said the Reparation Assessment Group includes
attorneys Cochran and Alexander J. Pires Jr., who won a $1 billion
settlement for black farmers who claimed discrimination by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture; Richard Scruggs, who won the
$368.5 billion settlement for states against tobacco companies;
Dennis C. Sweet III, who won a $400 million settlement in the
"phen-fen" diet drug case; and Willie E. Gary, who won a $500
million judgment against the Loewen Group Inc., the world's
largest funeral home operators.
Also in the group is Randall Robinson, president of the TransAfrica
Forum, a think tank specializing in African, Caribbean and
African-American issues. Robinson recently wrote the book "The
Debt: What America Owes to Blacks," which argues for
reparations.
"This will be the most important case in the history of our country,"
Pires said Friday. "We all agree the suit has to tell the story of
what slavery has done to blacks in America ...
"We are still suffering from slavery's impacts today," Pires said.
Ogletree said the assessment group will call on experts in
education, politics, family development, health and economics to
help trace how slavery's outgrowths such as segregated schooling
and neighborhoods have affected society today.
Enslavement of Africans in America began in the 1600s. A slave
sale was recorded in 1619 in Jamestown, Va. The "peculiar
institution" helped to fuel the prosperity of the young nation, while
also dividing it. Slavery was not officially abolished until the 1863,
during the Civil War.
Reparation supporters point to recent cases where groups have
been compensated in cash for historic indignities and harm.
A letter of formal apology and $20,000 were given by the U.S.
government to each Japanese-American held in internment camps
during World War II.
Austria last week established a $380 million fund to compensate
tens of thousands of Nazi-era slave laborers who were born in six
eastern European countries.
Reparation opponents argue that victims in the Nazi and
Japanese-American cases were directly harmed while many
generations separate enslaved blacks and their modern-day
descendants.
In addition, those opposed to reparations say it isn't fair for
taxpayers and corporations who never owned slaves to be
burdened with possible multibillion dollar settlements.
Neither Ogletree nor Pires mentioned any industry or company
that could be a target of the suit.
But Pires said there were overlaps between the slavery of past
centuries and today's corporations. He noted that Aetna Inc., the
nation's largest health insurer, apologized earlier this year for
selling policies in the 1850s that reimbursed slave owners for
financial losses when their slaves died.
In July, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant newspaper published a
front-page apology for running ads for slave sales and the
recapture of runaways in the 1700s and 1800s. Such
advertisements were commonplace in many newspapers until the
Civil War.
Pires was one of the lawyers in the assessment group who
discussed reparations in the November issue of Harper's
magazine.
Pires said he believes that any monetary settlement or damage
figure should be among the last items discussed as the suit takes
shape. He said it is more important to tell the story to all
Americans of what slavery did to the country "and let people
decide what should be done to repay."
"Most people," he said, "don't like having dirt on their hands."
AP-ES-11-04-00 1156EST
© Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Brought to you by the Tampa Bay Online Network
