Company admits slave history - Lehman Brothers

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-slave13.html

A financial services firm in line to be co-underwriter of a $1.5 billion O'Hare Airport bond issue acknowledged Monday that its founding partners owned not one, but several, slaves during the Civil War era and that, "in all likelihood," it "profited significantly" from slavery.

"This is a sad part of our heritage. . . . We're deeply apologetic. ... It was a terrible thing. . . . There's no one sitting in the United States in the year 2005, hopefully, who would ever, in a million years, defend the practice," said Joe Polizzotto, general counsel of Lehman Brothers.

Polizzotto initially claimed that company research had, so far, produced no concrete information that founding brothers Mayer, Henry and Emanuel Lehman had profited from slavery. But, under questioning from aldermen, he said, "It is virtually inconceivable, given the fact that they owned slaves that were in the business that the company didn't profit in some way, shape or form, from the institution of slavery. We appreciate that fact. We know that," the general counsel said.

'They're playing with us'

Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd), City Council champion for slave reparations, refused to accept either the apology or the discovery that the founding brothers owned more than just one slave, named Martha.

[whistle]

1. Good apology, now make amends by returning all of those....

...slave based profits to the descendent's of those slaves.

[ret5hd]

2. with interest

[Squatch]

3. To whom will these reparations be paid?

The people who were slaves have been dead for ~ century.

[ret5hd]

7. well, my suggestion would be to set up an education fund...

for the descendants of slaves...but really, wouldn't that be up to the rightful owners of the money, ie: the rightful heirs of the slaves, those whose inheritance was stolen?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

13. Jim Crow affected alot of people that are still alive

What about reparations to them? They're not dead.

[skooooo]

4. even if they are "white"?

[Xithras]

12. There probably weren't a whole lot of profits.

I got curious after reading this and looked up the history of Lehman Brothers. The company was founded in 1850 as a general store, and they operated by taking cotton in trade from the farmers in exchange for food (like a grocery store that operated accepted cotton instead of money). The company didn't really begin to develop until AFTER the civil war, when the owners realized that the cotton trade was more lucrative than merchandise, and sold off their Alabama general store and founded a New York cotton trading business.

I support the idea that profits derived from slavery should be paid to the slaves descendants, but the profits in this case were probably small...general stores tended to be small operations, not big corporations.

That, of course, brings up an interesting question. If a small business or even an individual farmer owned slaves, and then AFTER slavery was repealed the business or individual went on to attain great wealth without the use of slaves, should, and how, do you assess the "proper" legal and financial responsibilities for slavery down the line? Lehman Brothers wasn't even a corporation at the time (it was a private partnership between three brothers) so you can't even blame the stockholders or the institution? Should corporations and companies be held responsible for the actions of their founders, when those actions were unconnected with the current company?

[toopers]

5. My ancestors were surfs/indentured servants . . .

I want reparations from the english royal family and the Prussian royal family!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. "My ancestors were surfs...."

Cowabunga, dude.

[Coventina]

8. LOL!

:D

[ret5hd]

9. cool... maybe there's a RoyalSubjectUnderground.co.uk ...

where you could find interest in this grave injustice.

[NNN0LHI]

14. My ancestors were Smurfs

What do I get?

Don

[RethugAssKicker]

10. Just do good deeds for black Americans

Like setting up businesses in impovershied neighborhoods, and have training programs etc.. to build up skills. THEN HIRE THEM!!

Thats how you fix the problem.. Not really that difficult!

[Squatch]

11. Lawsuit waiting to happen.

A business that hires only black applicants.