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Also this issue: Edge of the Abyss Bitter Pill |
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April 4-10, 2002
loose canon
On March 26, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, a descendent of slaves, did something that was wonderful but which is ultimately wrong.
The young black woman from Brooklyn filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of descendents of slaves against some of America’s biggest corporations -- powerful and venerable companies that feasted on the suffering of her ancestors.
Only three corporations -- Aetna insurance, FleetBoston Financial and CSX transportation -- were listed as defendants, but the complaint leaves room to hold thousands accountable for the sins against her people and against all of humanity.
The following evening, millions of Jews worldwide did something very similar. We celebrated Passover, a holiday dinner that retells in detail the cruelty of Jewish bondage in Egypt and incorporates prayers for all oppressed people.
This year, again, we prayed for an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people. Jews believe that no one is truly free until all are free.
Over the centuries, the Passover book has come to include prayers, stories and songs that condemn slavery and celebrate freedom from many cultures. In fact, some of Farmer-Paellmann’s lawsuit might well find its way into future Passover books. I hope it does, for it is compellingly, passionately and beautifully written. A labor of love, it is a document that should be a part of every American’s history.
But it is still a lawsuit, and the justice it seeks is a bludgeon which some have likened to a shakedown. At such a remove from the offense, the restitution it seeks would be grossly unjust, penalizing millions of innocent people. My ancestors, like many, didn’t even arrive in America until the 20th century.
This lawsuit is the right document in the wrong place, but it appears to be only the first of many lawsuits planned by a group called the Reparations Coordinating Committee, which is co-chaired by Harvard professor Charles Ogletree Jr.
“Slavery is a wound that fails to heal” is the mantra of the Reparations Committee. Ogletree says that the goals of these lawsuits are both economical and educational.
Whatever is won from the corporations, or from the government, he says, would be used to “finance social recovery for the bottom-stuck.” And, as importantly, the trials are meant to “generate a public debate on slavery and the role its legacy continues to play in our society.”
Both goals are admirable and necessary. But such lawsuits, sadly, will only sharpen the divisions that slavery created, deepening the wound that is in us all, still.
