Louisiana Activists to Protest Bank One Reparations Offer

Outraged over what they call an "insulting slavery reparations offer" from JP Morgan Chase/Bank One, Louisiana activists are taking their demand for justice to the company's New Orleans Branch located at 1425 N. Broad Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, in a press conference/protest on Thursday, February 10 at 10:30 am (Central). Last month, JPMorgan Chase/Bank One disclosed that two of its predecessor banks in Louisiana allowed 13,000 enslaved Africans to be used as collateral on loans and took ownership of 1,250 enslaved Africans when the loans defaulted. The bank issued a public apology and said it would create a $5 million college scholarship fund for African Americans in Louisiana. "This ridiculous amount of money does not come anywhere near what that company owes us for the devastation they caused our ancestors and their descendants," said Antoinette Harrell-Miller, a noted Louisiana genealogist, New Orleans television personality, and organizer of the press conference. "They must pay us more," she said. Louisiana reparations activists say they were never consulted on the decision to create the scholarship fund, and are concerned about where the funds will actually go. [more]