by proldic » Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:28 pm
Chicago Sun-Times September 13, 2005<br><br>Company admits slave history <br><br>BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter Advertisement<br><br>A financial services firm in line to be co-underwriter of a $1.5 billion O'Hare Airport bond issue acknowledged Monday that..."in all likelihood," it "profited significantly" from slavery.<br><br>"This is a sad part of our heritage. . . . We're deeply apologetic. ... It was a terrible thing. . . . There's no one sitting in the United States in the year 2005, hopefully, who would ever, in a million years, defend the practice," said Joe Polizzotto, general counsel of Lehman Brothers.<br><br>Polizzotto initially claimed that company research had, so far, produced no concrete information that founding brothers Mayer, Henry and Emanuel Lehman had profited from slavery. <br><br>But, under questioning from aldermen, he said, "It is virtually inconceivable...the company didn't profit...from the institution of slavery..." the general counsel said.<br><br>'They're playing with us'<br><br>Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd), City Council champion for slave reparations, refused to accept...the apology... <br><br>Tillman accused Lehman Brothers of attempting to snow the City Council and demanded that the company be removed from the $1.5 billion bond issue aimed at jump-starting Mayor Daley's massive O'Hare expansion project.<br><br>"They had two years to do their research. . . . They're playing with us," Tillman said. <br><br>Rosemarie Andolino, executive director of the O'Hare Modernization Project, said she would wait until Lehman Brothers files an amended economic disclosure statement before deciding whether the company would be replaced as the bond issue's $500,000 co-underwriter. The O'Hare bonds are expected to be sold in October.<br><br>Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) said he wanted to "cogitate" further before deciding whether Lehman Brothers should be removed.<br><br>Two years ago, Lehman Brothers became the first city contractor to admit past ties to slavery...<br><br>In June, the City Council approved the $1.5 billion O'Hare expansion bond issue over Tillman's objections. After a roll call fell three votes short of passage, Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) promised not to sign the agreement until Lehman Brothers appeared before his committee and told the truth. The bond issue then sailed through on a second-chance vote.<br><br>Damaging evidence<br><br>On Monday, Lehman Brothers returned to the Finance Committee to admit that after hiring a "history consulting company," the company discovered that Martha was not alone...<br><br>"Neither we nor our consultant have been able to locate any records that would enable us to determine the extent to which the original partnership profited from its ties to slavery or to account for the partnership's profits from its transactions involving the cotton industry."<br><br>Tillman said it took her daughter, Ebony, a matter of weeks to uncover what she called proof-positive that an empire that started as a dry-goods retail store in Montgomery had, in fact, profited from slavery.<br><br>The damaging evidence includes: a Dec. 14, 1846, letter from Alabama's governor to Confederacy President Jefferson Davis regarding Meyer Lehman's appointment as cotton agent for the state and the appropriation of $500,000 for the purchase of cotton; a Jan. 14, 1865, letter from Meyer Lehman to Gen. Ulysses Grant regarding $500,000 appropriated to buy cotton; a March 7, 1865, letter from Jefferson Davis to the Alabama governor acknowledging a letter about cotton shipments, and an April 10, 1863, newspaper ad describing price-raising agreements for storing, shipping, delivering and re-weighting cotton, listing Lehman, Durr & Co. as partner. <br><br>Earlier this summer, Bank of America became the fourth bank that does business with Chicago to disclose links to slavery. The bank pledged $5 million for institutions and programs involved in preserving African-American history. In addition to Lehman Brothers, the others are J.P. Morgan Chase and Wachovia Corp.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-slave13.html">www.suntimes.com/output/n...ave13.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <p></p><i></i>
