Time to Pay Up!
So said Richard E. Barber of Somerset N.J., a descendent of slaves, who participated in one of the latest slavery Reparation Movement class action suits. Per the Washington Post article by Mike Robinson,
“We are here on behalf of all of those enslaved Africans who worked for 240 years without a payday. [There are people in America] who have trust funds built on the backs of slaves. Time to pay up.”
This particular class action is targeting American corporations who have made profits from the historical use of slaves; companies such as the Lehman Brothers brokerage firm, Aetna Insurance and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. The case was turned down by the Federal Court in Chicago, but a lot of room was left for an appeal. No doubt, this will eventually end up in the Supreme Court somewhere down the line.
What does the Reparations Movement have to do with forgiveness? Everything. That’s the whole point. A vast dehumanizing crime has occurred 1000 times over. But to-date, there have been no trials for the victims. They were given no judicial voice. The surviving slaves were merely set free. Real justice was never a real consideration. And now, 140 years later, the injustices have festered and bubbled over. This is a forgiveness issue. How can they forgive until there has been real justice? (see more)