Mayer and Afran will argue this historic class action suit in federal court in Chicago on Wednesday, when they plan to demand that New Jersey and the nation’s largest banks and insurers disgorge themselves of profits reaped from the slave trade.
(Farmer-Paellman).
On the eve of a major court argument on a Reparations class action case, a leader of the movement has called for a boycott of Bank of America.
At a news conference held outside Bank of America in Princeton on the morning of Monday, September 25, public interest attorneys Carl Mayer and Bruce Afran introduced plaintiff Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, the
The trio called for a boycott of Bank of America for its admitted role in enslaving tens of thousands of African-Americans during the 19th century. They stated that Bank of America, a corporation operating in New Jersey, a state with one of the largest African American communities in the country, has a duty to own up to their participation in American slavery.
Mayer and Afran will argue this historic class action suit in federal court in
As for the defendants, all three companies have acknowledged playing a role in enslaving Africans, yet they refuse to share a penny of profits from this most shameful chapter of American history. Both Chase and Bank of America even admit that they owned thousands of slaves, but remain adamant in their stand.
“My great-grandparents lost their life’s wages to slavery in the
She also made a poignant discovery about her great-grandfather, Abel Hines, when she uncovered evidence that Aetna had held an insurance policy on a slave his age in
“This is not ancient history,� Attorney Mayer remarked, “but a living case involving corporations still in existence that have been holding slave profits for 150 years without giving anything back to the people they took it from.� They attorneys added that they were shocked to learn that banks and insurance companies still doing business today, like Chase, Bank of America and
“Despite my legal training, I never imagined that a bank would lend money and take a lien on human beings as if they were selling car loans,� attorney Afran continued. “Basic human decency demands that such profits be given back to the aggrieved community.� No plaintiff will personally receive any money from this case,� Mayer said. Instead, the suit demands that the banks create a slave-era profits trust fund for the benefit of the descendants of enslaved Africans.
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