No reparations

last updated 8 January 2015

Chicago

A federal judge this week dismissed a lawsuit demanding reparations from 19 companies that allegedly profited from slavery. District Judge Charles Norgle said the African-American plaintiffs had failed to prove any connection between their ancestors and such current companies as Aetna Insurance, the Lehman Brothers brokerage firm, and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. Besides, the judge said, more than a century had passed since abolition and there were no legal grounds to order reparations. Richard Barber, whose grandparents were slaves, said that he would keep fighting for reparations as long as there were still Americans “who have trust funds built on the backs of slaves.”