Reparations Movement Wins Partial Victory

Art by Chuwuogo-Roy

Eugene Puryear writing for the Party of Socialism and Liberation paper reported that on December 13 the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld fraud claims brought by African Americans against 15 major U.S. banks, insurers and transportation companies that concealed their slave trading histories from consumers.

In a 17-page opinion, Judge Richard Posner said that a company that hides its slave trading history because it is worried about losing customers is "guilty of fraud."

Despite clear evidence that modern American capitalism could not be what it is today without slavery, the court opined that descendents of slaves have no legal standing to receive compensation. The ruling said that because of the statute of limitations and the "weak" link between the plaintiffs and their slave descendents, the case was not valid.

But the fact that the court upheld the plaintiffs’ consumer fraud claim is a modest, yet important legal victory for the reparations movement. It may seem insignificant, but any legal acknowledgement of the massive debt to African Americans can only help the overall struggle for reparations and equality.

Hey, payoff my school loans, and those of my son and daughter, and I'll be happy.

You can forget about the mule, we already have a cat.