5.28.02 @ 12:02AM
Slavery was an international operation, going back several millennia. The opportunity for lucrative shakedowns are thus limitless.
Trial lawyers who thrive on class-action lawsuits were
salivating earlier this month when State of California officials
released details of insurance policies issued by predecessors of
modern companies to slave owners before the Civil War.
This was the evidence the lawyers were looking for to push their
suits forward, citing "unjust enrichment." They hope to get around
statutes of limitations and other impediments to win tens of
millions -- even billions -- of dollars from the particular
companies they have sued. Once this is accomplished they hope to
threaten various other companies, intimidating them into forking
over large sums in order to avoid yet more lawsuits.
It is said that individual descendants of slaves won't get any
of the money. After the trial lawyers have taken their usual large
slice of the proceeds, the rest will go to "charities" of the sort
run by Jesse Jackson.
Jackson, by the way, was recently at Governor Gray Davis's side
when the latter called for an even broader investigation into the
insurance companies' past. Davis said, "Clearly we must right any
wrongs and do justice to people who were taken advantage of."
Who but the man who presided over California's energy mess, its
$23 billion budget deficit and its Oracle computer software scandal
could have come up with such an inspired idea? The opportunities
are nearly limitless.
Start with the Jews and Egypt. Pharaoh owes them big time for
enslaving them those many eons ago. Since he's not around, Hosni
Mubarak and his 67 million citizens will have do the right thing
and donate, say, one year's worth of Gross Domestic Product (about
$270 billion) to an Israeli charity. A good candidate would be
their equivalent of the Red Cross, which the International Red
Cross refuses to admit to membership (though it has welcomed Muslim
Red Crescent societies).
Then let's move to West Africa. You'll recall that the hapless
folk shipped out to be slaves were usually the losers in tribal
wars. So the descendants of the winners -- the folks who live in
such countries as Senegal, Ghana, The Gambia, Cameroon -- will have
to pony up their fair share. Their ancestors usually worked with
middle men, Arab slave traders. So, send a bill to Crown Prince
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, as well. No doubt he'll be happy to
contribute.
Don't forget those modern day champions of slavery, Sudan and
Mauritania, where the old tradition lives as you read this.
Move back a bit more in time and we come to the Romans, who had
slaves galore. These were Greeks, Gauls, Picts, Teutons and many
others from conquered lands of Europe and the Mediterranean. Now
the Italian government probably doesn't have much money to spare,
but there's always the Vatican. If it has anything left over after
settling the sex scandal cases, it should join the reparations
project. It could always give the Sistine Chapel to Jesse Jackson
to auction off on eBay. Michelangelo isn't around to complain.
Finally, we come to Adam of Garden of Eden fame. He proved the
point that man became enslaved to woman when he let God take one of
his ribs to make Eve, so he probably wants his rib back, or the
monetary equivalent thereof. Alas, it's doubtful that even a clever
ambulance chaser could sort that one out. What is clear is that if
the trial lawyers and their plaintiffs succeed, the nation will
make a giant step backward in race relations, putting divisive
victimology front and center instead of the steady expansion of
economic opportunities which black Americans have been
achieving.
topics:
Trade, Law, Israel, Africa, Energy
