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NEWS & LETTERS, June 2002
Voices from the inside outContinuing price of slaveryby Robert Taliaferro Reparations for slavery is a concept that is gaining more and more attention by the month. A recent lawsuit by Deadria Farmer-Paellmann against Aetna Inc., CSX Railroad, and Fleet Boston Financial Group has sparked the ire of at least one journalist in the country. A recent commentary writer for the Baltimore Sun felt that Paellmann's suit was ludicrous and that the CEOs of Aetna—and other companies who might bow to such suits—were nothing more than (in his words) "deluded wusses." Notwithstanding the writer's limited vocabulary, if one were to view his article without knowledge of this country's slave-oriented past, they might come away with a feeling of disdain for the likes of Paellmann and her suit. The commentary writer does, to his credit, note that Aetna wrote insurance policies for slaveholders that insured their slaves. He also quotes the reasons for Paellmann's suit. She said, "These are corporations that benefited from stealing people, from stealing labor, from forced breeding, from torture, from committing numerous horrendous acts." The commentary writer then states that Aetna profited from slavery for 12 years, as it was founded in 1853 and chattel slavery ended—supposedly—in 1865. "Aetna," states the writer, only "insured the lives of slaves 'for a few years.'" That writer, and many other opponents of the reparations debate, seem to feel that African Americans in this country should simply let bygones be bygones and assimilate—quietly—into the mainstream of society as if that aspect of American culture never existed. He, and many like him, live in a revisionist society that defines historical accuracy by virtue of who wins and who loses. We celebrate the founding of this country every July 4th, defining its greatness in pomp and ceremony, yet cannot seem to bring ourselves to accept the fact that a large part of its early greatness relied heavily upon the backs of slaves; fueled by their blood and sweat; built upon the foundation of their broken bodies. It is true that Aetna and other companies have given a bit back to the Black community. Aetna distributed about $36.5 million over the past 20 years to Black-oriented programs. That comes to a little over 5 cents per African American alive today per year during that 20 year period. When said like that, it doesn't seem like very much. Then there is that magnificent constitutional amendment that reportedly freed the slaves. It states: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to its jurisdiction." We find that, even after chattel slavery was abolished, the country still could not relinquish its slave-driven heritage. And even if one were to applaud the intentions of Congress in 1865, it still took two more amendments to put teeth in the 13th Amendment, and even so, it was effectively countermanded when laws were created that criminalized being Black, and plantations easily converted over to become prisons. It would be virtually impossible to determine what is owed to the descendants of slaves, and if there were a viable argument against reparations, it would be in determining this "dollar" amount and how it could be distributed equitably. Perhaps this argument could be stemmed by looking at the replacement for the plantation, and using those numbers as a model, especially since slavery is still allowed in this country if one has committed a crime. So what does it cost to maintain and insure a slave? In 1854, Aetna wrote a policy that insured three slaves for a cumulative total of $2,900; in 2002, one private prison contractor charges a little over $16,000 a year (per person) to maintain a Midwestern state's version of slaves. That state also incarcerates Blacks over whites at rates of almost 30 to 1, a rate much higher than its Southern counterparts. If one adds those figures in with close to 400 years of other factors that are direct results of the slave trade, whatever is finally gained by the proponents of reparations, the companies and the collective consciousness of the country will have gotten off cheaply. |
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