Tillman: Bank of America 'lying' on slavery

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-slave09.html

The City Council's champion for slave reparations accused Bank of America on Tuesday of "lying" on a sworn affidavit to conceal its past ties to slavery and preserve a lucrative role as senior manager of a $500 million city refinancing deal.

"To sign an affidavit saying they've searched their records and your company has no ties to slavery is incorrect. ... That's incorrect and we are prepared to bring the evidence before this body -- that Bank of America, through Fleet Boston, does have ties to slavery," said Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd).

"We've already got a team right now preparing to bring our evidence before this City Council ... to show it to the world. ... We will bring out witnesses. We will bring our evidence and you'll be back before this Council. You're in violation of the law. ... John Brown was a slave owner.''

Patricia Holden, state and local lobbyist for Bank of America, acknowledged Brown, who helped found Providene Bank in 1791, was a director of the bank, a predecessor of Fleet Boston, which was acquired by Bank of America last year.

JPMorgan Chase admitted link

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[mdhunter]

1. My cousin's roommate's grandfather's pastor's father-in-law also

owned slaves.

Look, don't get me wrong, it would have been better for BOA to disclose this if they in fact knew about it, but I'm not sure it much matters.

That the founder of bank 210 years and dozen of so acquisitions prior to the current iteration of it owned slaves doesn't particularly alarm or upset me. I guarantee that at least one current BOA employee has committed more objectionable crimes.

[NNN0LHI]

2. It probably wouldn't make much difference to most people unless...

...they were actually descendent's of slaves. Those people who were descendent's would probably prefer to do their banking business with some other institution that did not have connections to slavery. And then there are those like me who does not have descendent's who were slaves but I too would prefer to do my banking business with someone who had no ties to the slave trade. But if it does not bother you to deal with them, that is your business.

Don

[Alpharetta]

3. It matters to me

Fleet and BOA still enjoy the rewards of slavery. The capital accumulated via oppression is still in their hands.

Worse, that capital is still being used to oppress. A nation built on slavery now bypasses its own manpower and finances multinational corporations in faraway places so that foreign workers can be exploited without the rights of American workers.

I see the connection between slavery and Bush's election. The same people. The same power structure.

[AP]

4. Althoug the plaintiffs are "once removed," the defendant isn't.

I've seen DU'ers complain about corporations having a "life" and the rights of a person.

Well, here's the downside of that.

Since they don't die, you can sue them for things they did while they were alive.

[livinginphotographs]

7. This whole country was founded on slave labor...

BofA and every other long-running institutions, including the US government.

Reparations are owed to African-Americans, because the legacy of slavery lives on in a cycle of poverty that started with slavery, moved on to Jim Crow, and ended with white people saying, "Well, the Civil Rights Act passed, so we're done here."

Just my opinion...

[True_Blue]

8. African-Americans should receive reparations

not only for slavery, but for also for a century of lynchings and segregation as well.

[ZR2]

9. And where should the money come from

to pay for these reparations ?

[livinginphotographs]

10. White people. Every single white person in this country.

Is that what you wanted to hear?

[ZR2]

11. No, I want to hear where the money should actually come from

not some lame ass attempt at humor.

[livinginphotographs]

13. The money comes from tax dollars.

Please tell me you're not one of those people that believe that slavery reparations consists of mailing a check to every black person in America.

Slavery reparations means tax dollars being diverted to social programs specifically aimed towards lower-income blacks i.e. those who are still suffering the effects of slavery, segregation, and racism.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Bank of America started out as Bank of Italy, founded in

San Francisco by A.P. Giannini in 1904. The name changed to Bank of America in 1928.

I am not one to stick up for large financial institutions, but the link seems kind of tenuous - The culprit was Brown, who founded Providence Bank, a predecessor of Fleet Boston (which I believe was named something else before it became Fleet - Bay Bank, maybe?) and later acquired by B of A.

It just seems like kind of a stretch.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Giannini's daughter appears to hold much contempt for BofA

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:Nc6HTOLtwKEJ:smart90.com/books02boatort++Bank+of+America+started+out+as+Bank+of+Italy&hl=en

Banks Un-American Banking Activities in the 80s, promoted itself as the bank that &emdash; "We Couldn't Have Done It Without You." But to Claire Giannini Hoffman, the bank her father founded in 1906, as the Bank of Italy, is doing an unflattering job on his memory.

Hoffman, was an ongoing critic of Bank of America for much of her lifetime. She made a habit of contacting newspapers and radio stations condemning the wild and wooly ways of BofA, calling them "an insult to my father."

"It is contemptible, what they are doing," the 89 year-old Hoffman would tell interviewers. "They are using my father's name and picture to promote their bank". She said the modern Bank of America does not represent the business philosophy espoused by her father. "My father believed that, if you helped people, eventually you would have people for friends, as well as customers."

Hoffman, delivered a blow to the bank's image in 1985, by resigning her honorary seat on its board. It was over what she called, the "unpardonable" act of selling its San Francisco headquarters; the repossessing of trucks, automobiles and the homes and farms from our customers, in a time of need.

Today's BofA, she said, "is just another bank. If it didn't have the same name there would be no similarity at all."

[smirkymonkey]

12. What a different world it was back then

"My father believed that, if you helped people, eventually you would have people for friends, as well as customers." We couldn't be farther from that sentiment in the business world of today.

Almost sounds like George Bailey from "It's a Wonderful Life." I am sure that Giannini would turn over in his grave if he saw what had become of his interest.