A week or so ago I wrote about Morgan Stanley and the fact that they were have a bit of bother with the Chicago bid because they didn’t tick the box that said they had "owned slaves" 150 years ago. I was outraged. Read it here. I got this response:
Please understand that the wealth of the United States was created by
the free labor of enslaved Africans in America. It became the land of
milk and honey that people from all over the world flock to. The wealth
that created these companies is still around today. That is a fact. Not
to mention that is has only been about 40 years since Black Americans
have enjoyed equal rights in this country. It is a wonderful law and it
is great that so many other cities has past it.
Sorry, I just don’t buy it. The concept of "sins of the fathers" is anathema to everything we believe in this country. Everyone seems to forget that it was Americans (mostly white) from the North that died by the hundreds of thousands to free the slaves. Everyone seems to conveniently forget that the companies that may have "invested" a hundred and fifty years ago in some tangential way in enterprises that used slave labor now employee, sometimes in very senior positions, people of color. Its the law of unintended consequences. Activists on one side feel that a wrong needs to be "righted." So they pass a law that seemingly rights the wrong. But in doing so hurt some of the very people they are trying to help.
No one in any of the companies that may have participated in slavery over 150 years ago today supports slavery in any way. There may be some bigots around, but that will be true forever. There are always some jerks who lack self confidence and must find a reason to hate, whether is hating a different sex, race, or religion. That is the nature of humans. No law will fix that.
How dare someone come to me and say that I must act a certain way because of something someone I have no connection to did 150 years ago. Lets see, the Turks hate the Greeks (or is it the other way around) because of something that happened 100 years ago. The Irish hate the English because of wrongs committed 200 years ago. The Arabs hate the Jews because… well you get the point. This type of law simply perpetuates the very thing you are trying to stop.
Although you may say that American wealth was created by enslaved Africans, I’m sure the enslaved Chinese, or nearly enslaved Irish, Jews, Italians, Hispanics, Polish, and the rest would disagree. After the Civil War and America went through a number of depressions and recessions, wars, famines and the like where our "wealth" was destroyed and then rebuilt. Is there "old" money. Sure, but if you look closely, the "old" money keeps being replinshed by "new" money. If its not, it simply goes away. This country has been rebuilt by free people working together, some rich, some poor, some who were taken advantage of. It is a fact.
The horrors of slavery was unique to African Americans, but the horrors of injustice is not. To single out one group as being more or less disadvantaged only keeps the ball rolling. There is no win for anyone.
One example I just read about. Affirmative action has had a number of results. One is that high achieving Asian Americans have been kept out of many top schools so lower achieving Blacks can be allowed in. Whoops, who is feeling the brunt of discrimination now. Although Blacks have been put in top law schools by affirmative action, their success rate is dismal. Had they gone to a "second" tier law school, they would be attorneys now. Instead, they have been forced into a position that perpetuated their failure.
Why does that make sense? Certainly some blacks will succeed at the best schools, just as some white, Asians, and the like. The best will do so, no matter what their color. Forcing schools to accept certain students simply based on their color is no answer to the problem. It only exacerbates it. What was the reason to force a certain number of black students into these institutions. Was it to help them get law degrees, or to punish some other students (by not allowing them in) and the institutions. If it was the former, it fails. If the latter, it succeeds.
The Law of Unintended consequences.
JVH
