Slave Reparations Lawsuit To Use DNA
The plaintiffs in a slave reparations lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds and Lloyds of London, among others, is planning to use DNA evidence in order to link the companies to slaves brought to America.
From Yahoo News via Hot Abercrombie Chick:
Does DNA evidence really effect this case at all? We all know that slavery happened and that the historical versions of some of today's corporations were involved in it. What new links does the DNA evidence bring to life?
Honestly, I disagree with the premise of these kinds of lawsuits. They're suing the corporations as an entity, but you have to consider that the corporations themselves weren't responsible for the decision to support slave trading. Corporations are incapable of making decisions like this because they only exist on paper. They're not living, breathing organisms capable of making their own decisions.
The plaintiffs in these cases are going after the corporations because the people who were really responsible for slavery and made the decisions to support it have long since passed away. If a lawsuit like this one actually won it would punish everybody associated with one of these corporations from the CEO and the board of directors on down to the average stock holder. The people being hurt and punished are people who had absolutely nothing to do with slavery.
Plus, if the lawsuit against these corporations is won it would set a precedent by which the same plaintiffs could also sue the United States Government for reparations too.
I don't think that's a road we want to go down.
From Yahoo News via Hot Abercrombie Chick:
Lawyers for the eight plaintiffs said the complaint was the first slave reparations lawsuit to use DNA to link the plaintiffs to Africans who suffered atrocities during the slave trade.
The suit filed in federal court in Manhattan accuses Lloyd's of London, FleetBoston and R.J. Reynolds of "aiding and abetting the commission of genocide" by allegedly financing and insuring the ships that delivered slaves to tobacco plantations in the United States.
The defendants "have destroyed our national and ethnic identity," one of the plaintiffs, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, said at a news conference announcing the suit.
DNA testing has made a "direct connection" between Farmer-Paellmann and the Mende tribe in Sierra Leone, whose people "were kidnapped, tortured and shipped in chains to the United States," the suit said.
Does DNA evidence really effect this case at all? We all know that slavery happened and that the historical versions of some of today's corporations were involved in it. What new links does the DNA evidence bring to life?
Honestly, I disagree with the premise of these kinds of lawsuits. They're suing the corporations as an entity, but you have to consider that the corporations themselves weren't responsible for the decision to support slave trading. Corporations are incapable of making decisions like this because they only exist on paper. They're not living, breathing organisms capable of making their own decisions.
The plaintiffs in these cases are going after the corporations because the people who were really responsible for slavery and made the decisions to support it have long since passed away. If a lawsuit like this one actually won it would punish everybody associated with one of these corporations from the CEO and the board of directors on down to the average stock holder. The people being hurt and punished are people who had absolutely nothing to do with slavery.
Plus, if the lawsuit against these corporations is won it would set a precedent by which the same plaintiffs could also sue the United States Government for reparations too.
I don't think that's a road we want to go down.
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