Appellate court rejects slave reparation claims

[Redskinsmama]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16211694/


CHICAGO - A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected most claims by slave descendants that they deserve reparations from some of the nation's biggest insurers, banks and transportation companies.

But the panel did keep alive a smaller portion of the suit, claiming that major U.S. corporations may be guilty of consumer fraud if they hid past ties to slavery from their customers.

Descendants claim they have been injured by buying products from companies that concealed the fact that they or their predecessor companies somehow benefited from slavery.

 

[kom526]

How were the plantiffs injured? How can they prove that these companies ever benefited from slavery? Where's Al and Jesse? Get them on the phone!

I wonder how long it will take before....

 

[Dondi]

I hope I don't sound racist, because I'm not in the least. But think about it:

Had it not been for slavery, the descendants of black slaves would still be in Africa, or wherever they came from. So in a round about way, slavery was a blessing in disguise. It enabled the many blacks to flourish in America. I said many, for I do recognize that sadly there is still poverty among blacks here in America.

Not that I'm advocating slavery, but that's basically the facts.

Am I right?

 

[Bonehead]

According to most of the history that I have read different tribes in Africa preyed on one another and sold their captured prize to the various europeans who transported the slaves to many countries.

 

[closetrebel]

I hope I don't sound racist, because I'm not in the least. But think about it:

Had it not been for slavery, the descendants of black slaves would still be in Africa, or wherever they came from. So in a round about way, slavery was a blessing in disguise. It enabled the many blacks to flourish in America. I said many, for I do recognize that sadly there is still poverty among blacks here in America.

Not that I'm advocating slavery, but that's basically the facts.

Am I right?

you don't sound racist.

i am black and i am SO OVER the reparations nonsense. if anyone should have demanded reparations is should have been the just freed slaves. but they didn't. no, they actually took their newfound freedom and used it to benefit themselves for the better - or at least to the best of their ability and to the what the white man would allow. you never read about them asking for handouts. they just wanted the freedom to prove that that they were also human beings and that they could also contribute to society WITHOUT a collar and chains.

sad to say, the modern generations have not followed the same dignified path.

it makes me ashamed.

of course, on the other hand, i will not deny that racist attitudes still exist. i have been refused service in a store (but when my my very white looking Puerto Rican friend walked in to join me, the store associates were all over her), told that by a supervisor that she was surprised how intelligent i was for one of "my people", and some other incidents much more crass than these.

i try to chalk it up to ignorance and go on my way, or i will actually say something if i feel the situation warrants it.

i honestly wish people would stop allowing themselves to be blinded by the whole race thing and see what is really going on which is the steady disappearance of the middle class in the US. i see my friends of all nationalities being affected more by what is happening economically than by anything else.