- Reparations Watch

Originally published in the Chicago Sun Times on 11/25/03 [here]

CTA chief told to apologize or resign (Slavery Reparations in Chicago)

The City Council champion of the slave reparations movement demanded Monday that Carole Brown apologize to African Americans or step down as CTA board chairwoman for "allowing herself to be used" to defend a financial services firm with past ties to slavery. Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd) said it's insensitive and insulting for Brown, senior vice president of Lehman Brothers , to suggest that "the Lehman Brothers in the 1850s is not the company that it is today."

Brown made the statement after the company she works for became the first city contractor to admit past ties to slavery.

"She should have kept her mouth shut and said, 'I'm not going to speak against my people.' Why is this young lady trying to speak on behalf of slave owners? [They're saying], 'Let's parade this black woman out there,' " Tillman said.

"Who is she to say that things have changed? Things have not changed. The economy for blacks in this country is just as bad as it was under Jim Crow. We still have only 1 percent of the wealth. She's not there because of her merits or because someone loves her. She's there because of the fight we waged for parity in this country."

Tillman demanded that Brown make a choice: Apologize for allowing herself to be used to sanitize the reputation of a company built on the backs of her own people or step aside as CTA chairwoman.

"If she's that insensitive as an African-American woman not to understand the effects and residues of slavery, she certainly can't represent us on the CTA board. . . . She cannot speak for them and us too," Tillman said.

Brown could not be reached for comment on Tillman's ultimatum. Calls to her office were returned by Lehman Brothers spokeswoman Kerrie Cohen, who refused to go beyond the company's explosive affidavit acknowledging the company's links to slavery.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this week that a landmark ordinance requiring city contractors to scour their records for such ties had finally hit pay dirt.

In an affidavit filed in connection with its role as co-senior manager of a $145 million O'Hare Airport bond issue, Lehman Brothers admitted that the three brothers who founded the firm's predecessor in Montgomery, Ala., in 1850 purchased a female slave named Martha four years later. Historical records also suggest that the brothers "may have personally owned other slaves," the company stated.

But the disclosure form stressed, "There is no evidence that these slaves were purchased or used by any predecessor entity of Lehman Brothers ."

As for Martha, the company stated, "Historical records provide no evidence as to what role, if any, Martha played at H. Lehman &Brothers ," the predecessor firm.

Conrad Worrill, chairman of the National Black United Front, applauded Lehman Brothers for "at least admitting that they owned slaves." But he charged that the company's affidavit is "only the tip of the iceberg" that will be fully revealed in federal court here in Chicago.

Reparations lawsuit ongoing

That's where a series of reparations lawsuits filed against Lehman Brothers and other investment banks, railroads, insurance, tobacco and textile conglomerates have been consolidated into one case now before U.S. District Court Judge Charles Norgle.

"We're working with a major researcher who has uncovered Lehman Brothers ' deep involvement in the slave enterprise that they did not admit to in their affidavit. Their affidavit only admitted that they owned some slaves. Their involvement, according to the research we've been engaged in, is that they had a much deeper involvement in the slave industry," Worrill said.

"With the slaves they owned and the money they made, with interest, it's not enough to just say, 'I'm sorry,' " Worrill added. "They should begin discussing restitution with legitimate representatives of the reparations movement that would be commensurate with their very extensive involvement in slavery."

Cohen refused to comment, except to say, " Lehman Brothers condemns violations of fundamental human rights in any form."

More than 2,000 slavery disclosure affidavits have been filed by city contractors since Feb. 4, when the landmark disclosure ordinance took effect. Lehman Brothers is the first company to admit that it found anything incriminating in its past.

"I don't think it means that we're the only firm that has that part in our history. It just means that we took it very seriously and we're quick to disclose what we know," Brown told the Sun-Times last week.

On that point, Tillman and Brown agree.

Tillman : 'Many more who have lied'

The alderman said she does not believe for a minute that Lehman Brothers is the only city contractor to profit from slavery. And she vowed to expose and punish those who have filed false affidavits, using research under way by students at Northeastern Illinois University.

"I'm sure there are many more who have lied. We have a few companies that are very strong suspects," Tillman said, refusing to name them.

"I warn those companies who have lied on the affidavits that when we get through looking through and find out they have lied, we're going to shine the light of truth on them, and whatever contracts they have with the city will be terminated."

On Sept. 30, Mayor Daley chose Brown to replace CTA chairwoman Valerie Jarrett, an appointment that thrust Brown into the center of the controversy over a CTA fare hike.

The mayor has no plans to withdraw his support from Brown now that Lehman Brothers has come clean about its past ties to slavery.

Mayor backs Brown

"Carole had nothing to do with the company's previous involvement. Asking her to step aside is undoing the progress the company has made since then," said deputy mayoral press secretary Maria Toscano.

Police Committee Chairman Isaac Carothers (29th) added: "Why should Carole Brown resign? She had nothing to do with what happened in 1850. If anything, Lehman Brothers is doing the right thing by hiring Carole Brown and making her senior vice president. That's a reparation right there."

Not much known about 'Martha' besides name

BY LUCIO GUERRERO Staff Reporter

When she was sold as a slave at age 14, Martha could never have imagined that, nearly 150 years later, she would be at the center of a volatile debate over reparations in the Chicago City Council.

Little is known about Martha except what can be gleaned from a receipt made out to H. Lehman & Brother in 1854. She was among as many as seven slaves held by the Lehman brothers in Montgomery, Ala., in the days they were making a name for themselves in the cotton business.

It's not known whether she was part of a domestic staff or was put to work for the company. She was simply listed as "Martha" when the modern-day Lehman Brothers , now a Wall Street powerhouse, reported its past slavery ties last week as required by any company that wants to do business with the city of Chicago.

The firm also admitted the brothers may have "personally owned other slaves" besides Martha. Some aldermen believe that's enough to demand reparations from the company, which is also facing a federal reparations lawsuit.

A book about the Lehman family, The Lehmans: From Rimpar to the New World, mentions at least seven slaves owned by the brothers during the 1850s. That's backed up by the 1860 U.S. Census that lists the Lehmans owning seven slaves -- four women and three men -- at that time.

"The Lehmans, who had not enjoyed personal freedom in their country [Germany] and left for that very reason, were now in a part of the country where a considerable part of the population was held as slaves," wrote author Roland Flade. "Like most other southern Jews, they did not openly question the institution of slavery."

Flade said the Lehmans were living in a county where the average landowner had 10 slaves.

"Jews wanted to acclimate themselves in every way to their environment, in both and a social and psychological sense," Flade writes. "They needed to be accepted as equals by their fellow citizens."

Lehman Brothers is among 19 companies being sued in federal court for profiting from slaves.