Brown U. and Slavery

Good Article. I read the initial article by Ruth Siimmons, about how Brown University benefitted from slavery. Its boring. This one is a little more interesting

Copyright 2006 U.S. Newswire,
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U.S. Newswire

October 23, 2006 Monday 3:28 PM EST
NATIONAL DESK
629 words
Slave Reparations Critic Blasts New Brown University Report; Says Brown President Simmons Has Political AgendaWASHINGTON, Oct. 23

John Carlisle, director of policy at the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), today criticized Brown University and its president Ruth Simmons for the issuance of a report titled, Slavery and Justice, which was intended to detail the University’s links to slavery.
While the report does not formally apologize for Brown’s links to slavery, its recommendations amount to a de facto apology. The committee says that the school should build a slavery memorial, establish a research center on slavery and justice, and increase efforts to recruit more minority students, especially from Africa and the West Indies.
The report was issued on October 18 by the so-called Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, a creation of Ruth Simmons, who appointed all of its members. Simmons is also a member of the Goldman Sachs board of directors.
According to the report, the university benefited, directly or indirectly, from the slave trade. Among its findings, the institution’s founder, James Manning, was a slave owner, 30 members of the college’s governing corporation owned or captained slave ships, and slaves helped construct some of the school’s buildings.
Simmons praised the report as an “opportunity to appreciate not only the full historical context of the University’s founding, but also to use these insights as a point of departure to inform the choices to be made in the face of contemporary moral dilemmas.” Simmons says she will soon issue a response to the committee’s recommendations.
Carlisle reacted to the report by saying, "Worst of all, this report embraces the racist idea of group guilt. Abolitionists were involved with Brown, as well. People should be judged on their actions as individuals, not as members of a particular racial group. The report also embraces cross-generational guilt, an equally objectionable concept. Individuals should be responsible for their own actions, not those of their ancestors 200 years ago."
Carlisle continued, “Simmons talks about ‘historical context’ but that is exactly that what is missing from the report.” Carlisle pointed out that:
There were many white slaves in America, who came here as indentured servants. They had to provide forced, unpaid labor before they were freed; many of them were never freed.
Free blacks often owned slaves. In 1860, about one-third of the 10,600 free blacks in New Orleans were slave owners.
Prior to the Civil War, Irish immigrants rather than black slaves often were employed for the most hazardous jobs because the former were considered cheap and expendable compared with blacks.
Many Africans were just as complicit in the slave trade as Europeans and Americans. When the British shut down West African slave ports in the 1800s, Africans who benefited from the slave trade rioted.
Carlisle continued, "The WASPs who dominated Brown for so many years could also be accused of anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish prejudice. Should Brown erect monuments as a reminder of these injustices? Should Brown kick out African-American students and admit more Irish-Americans?"
Carlisle concluded, "This report is not about history. It is about contemporary political strategies, whereby Simmons seeks to advance the notion of African-American victimization and entitlement for the economic benefits that result. As a director of Goldman Sachs and other companies, it has certainly worked for her."
Carlisle is the co-author of “The Case Against Slave Reparations,” a monograph published by NLPC in 2004 and updated in June of this year. It can be downloaded at .
NLPC promotes ethics in public life, and sponsors the Corporate Integrity Project.

Contact: John Carlisle of the National Legal and Policy Center, 703-237-1970, Website:
October 24, 2006

Not to take slavery lightly, but what business, school, or gov’t. at the time, didn’t benefit from slavery. Why pick on only Brown U.?
JP Morgan Chase & Volkswagen benefited from Hitler, but that doesn’t mean those leaders who are dead now have any ties to current corporate management.
We can’t correct the past, we can only correct the present.
What companies, schools, or gov’ts. currently benefit from evil?
Focus on slavery, persecution, abortion, etc. global-wide now, not in the past.

The previous article, actually showe dwhat JP morgan did about their slavery past. Yale (or princeton) had a past in it, and opened a few scholorships and a new department dedicated to slavery in america