Category: News & Comment

City Business Journals are reporting today that the mega-bank is looking at its past and neither minimizing or denying it profited from slavery.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia recently commissioned Chantilly, Va.-based historical research firm The History Factory to investigate its predecessor institutions…The investigation revealed two institutions that later became part of Wachovia through acquisitions — the Georgia Railroad and Banking Co. and the Bank of Charleston — owned slaves.

Through specific transactional records, historians determined the Georgia Railroad and Banking Co. owned at least 162 slaves and the Bank of Charleston accepted at least 529 slaves as collateral on mortgaged properties or loans, and subsequently acquired an undetermined number of slaves when customers defaulted on their loans.

Extensive Northeast banking interests eventually absorbed into Wachovia were also fat with slave profits, it was revealed.

According to the investigation, these banks outside the traditional South had founders, directors, or account holders who owned slaves and/or profited directly from slavery; invested in or transacted business with companies or individuals that owned slaves; invested in the bonds of slave states and municipalities; or invested in U.S. government bonds during years when the United States permitted and profited from slave labor directly through taxation…

Bank of North America (Philadelphia), The Philadelphia Bank (later Philadelphia National Bank), Girard National Bank (Philadelphia), Farmers’ & Mechanics’ Bank of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and the Granting of Annuities (Philadelphia), Bank of Baltimore, Savings Bank of Baltimore, State Bank of Elizabeth (New Jersey), and State Bank of Newark (New Jersey).

Wachovia, whether it set out to or not, is following the Truth and Reconciliation process pioneered by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa. After apartheid, whites feared blacks would rise up and kill them in revenge. That Israel/Palestine style conflict resolution didn’t happen, and Tutu won a Nobel prize as a result.

The crucial part of the process is acknowledging the crime or wrong-doing and its hurtful effects, then sincerely apologizing. Too often in this country, we deal with slavery by saying, “Oh that was a long time ago, and I didn’t personally own slaves.” That attitude is as helpful as denying slavery took place.

We also like to pretend that racism is confined to one geographic area, that the problem is in the South. We do this by refusing to see racism when it confronts us elsewhere. When a cross is burned in Durham, as three were recently, we call it a hate crime. When a cross is burned in Chicago, as it was last week, we call it a prank. When black people are killed by police in L.A., we say it’s a police brutality issue. When the same thing happens in Houston, we say it’s southern racism.

This allows us to perpetuate the myth that racism is a problem for other people, not for ourselves, and that it happens in some places, but not here. This blind eye does a disservice not only to those struggling to rise above prejudice everywhere, but particularly to the objects of racism. It’s more denial that they have a right to feel aggrieved.

Tutu says that until we, as a country, acknowledge our slave-holding past and the benefits it gave some of us while taking a huge price from others, we will continue to be mired in our race problems, endlessly trudging through the same old ground. Wachovia seems to get it:

“On behalf of Wachovia Corp., I apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans and people of African descent,” said Ken Thompson, Wachovia chairman and CEO. “We are deeply saddened by these findings.”

Wachovia said it plans to partner with community organizations that are experts in furthering awareness and education of African-American history. Yesterday, Wachovia was named the principal sponsor of the National Center for Black Philanthropy (NCFBP) and national co-chair for its Fifth National Conference on Black Philanthropy.

“We know that we cannot change the past, and we can’t make up for the wrongs of slavery,” Thompson said. “But we can learn from our past, and begin a stronger dialogue about slavery and the experience of African-Americans in our country…”

Well said, Wachovia, and well done.

Jonathan Alter:

I have a gut feeling that President Bush is headed for a serious bruising on this issue, as are at least some of the 180 Republicans and 14 Democrats who voted last week against the stem-cell-research bill that passed the House.

These members may look back ruefully on this vote as one that helped get them tossed out of office. After all, every American who has a relative with one of these diseases — which means nearly every American — is beginning to understand the issue in a new way: it’s “pro-cure” vs. “anti-cure,” with the anti-stem-cell folks in danger of being swept into the medical waste bin of history…

Unless there’s another war, stem cells will become one of the defining issues of the 2006 campaign. Look for smart Democrats to run ads with relatives of the afflicted (“My sister has Parkinson’s,” “My father has Alzheimer’s”) pointing out that Congressman X is so extreme, he voted against a bill supported by many Republicans to begin curing these diseases. This will inevitably lead to backpedaling and compromise and the victory of a broad-based “pro-cure movement” that may help save not just my life, but your cousin’s or your mother’s or your own.

Human Events Online has performed the valuable public service of convening a panel of 15 “conservative scholars and public policy leaders” to develop a list of the “Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries.”

The wingbut panelists were almost unanimous in their choice for number one: Karl Marx’s “The Communist Manifesto,” followed at second by Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” I suppose it would be difficult for even a left-leaner to argue those choices, but the problem I have with the list is that it seems to do what all book-fearers do — blame the book for either the actions of the author (Hitler) or for the actions of others in the name of or under the aegis of the author (Marx).

I think you can blame Hitler, not his rambling prison-cell rant, for the Third Reich. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to read Marx, but all we can really blame him for is turgid prose, not the Great Communist Conspiracy. To say that Russia or China or North Korea really implemented Marxian ideals, as elucidated in his “Manifesto,” to create their totalitarian states and foment the Cold War is ludicrous.

Here’s the rest of the list:
3. “Quotations from Chairman Mao,” By Mao Zedong
4. “The Kinsey Report,” by Alfred Kinsey
5. “Democracy and Education,” by John Dewey
6. “Das Kapital,” by Karl Marx (a two-fer in the Top 10!)
7. “The Feminine Mystique,” by Betty Friedan
8. “The Course of Positive Philosophy,” by Auguste Compte
9. “Beyond Good and Evil,” by Freidrich Nietzsche
10. “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,” John Maynard Keynes

There are some interesting selections among the runners-up as well:
“On Liberty,” by John Stuart Mill
“Beyond Freedom and Dignity,” by B.F. Skinner
“Origin of the Species,” by Charles Darwin (thought that would have scored higher)
“Madness and Civilization,” by Michel Foucault
“Coming of Age in Samoa,” by Margaret Mead
“Unsafe at Any Speed,” by Ralph Nader
“Silent Spring,” by Rachel Carson
“Introduction to Psychoanalysis,” by Sigmund Freud
“Descent of Man,” by Charles Darwin

While some of these choices perhaps are not surprising (absent Margaret Meade), it’s well to note that these are labeled as “harmful” books, not just books they disliked. Once you marginalize a book by deeming it “harmful,” can the matchbox be far behind?

Photo: Baghdad burning in 2002.

Today, June 1, is an historic day for a free and active press.

From The Writer’s Almanac:

It was on this day in 1942, a newspaper in Warsaw published the first account of Jews being gassed to death in a concentration camp. This was the first time the news of the Nazis’ “Final Solution” became public.

Hitler had been in power for nine years, had never made a secret of his anti-Semitism. He had passed laws firing Jews from government jobs, dismissing them from public schools, and burning their books.

The first concentration camps were set up not for Jews but for political dissidents, unionists, social democrats; then homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Gypsies. The first people the Nazis exterminated were the mentally and physically disabled.

It wasn’t until after the invasion of Poland, with its enormous Jewish population, that Hitler began to consider what he called the “Jewish question.” There was a plan for a while to ship all the Jews to the island of Madagascar, off the coast of Africa, but that was scrapped.

By 1941, many thousands of Jews had already been rounded up and shot in Eastern Europe, as the Nazis marched north into Russia. Historians aren’t sure precisely when the decision was made to systematically exterminate the Jews in death camps, but it was Himmler’s idea to use gas chambers, after he’d witnessed a mass execution by gunfire, which he found shocking.

The newspaper that broke the story of the death camps was an underground Polish Socialist paper called the Liberty Brigade. A young man named Emanuel Ringelblum had escaped from the death camp, and his story was published on this day. The story was picked up by the London Daily Telegraph a week later. Around the same time, secret Polish agents began to send messages to the allies about Auschwitz. They met with Churchill and Roosevelt, but when the story reached the public, it was met with disbelief, even by many Jews.

British and American intelligence experts knew it was happening because they had cracked the Nazi codes, but they were reluctant to make their knowledge public because they didn’t want to signal the fact that they’d broken the codes. And Roosevelt and Churchill were reluctant to turn the war into a “Jewish war.”

It was not until American soldiers liberated the camps in the spring of 1945 that the full truth came out. The word genocide was not even coined until after the war. It wasn’t until 1957 that people began to use the term “the Holocaust.”

The press is just as important today, probably more so. Those running our government are corrupt and conniving, and we depend on journalists to keep them honest.

But when reporters do supply information about nefarious agendas, like the Downing Street memo, we can’t turn away. That story, and so many others like it, are out there. Where are we?

On one hand, it’s surprising that Fox News has even bothered to cover the Downing Street Memo, the British government document that appears to prove that President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and others were lying to the American public in early 2002 when they said that they had “no plans” to invade Iraq.

The story has been scarcely reported in the mainstream press, to say the least, so you have to wonder why the in-house propaganda network for the Bush Administration would draw attention to it unnecessarily – especially since the Bushies have so far failed to disavow its veracity.

The article has an ironic, oh-those-crazy-liberals tone as it attempts to spin the story as irrelevant. The reason for the lack of coverage, we are told, is that the memo’s contents are unimportant. After all, it was leaked to the London Times prior to the British elections last month, and Blair was reelected handily.
As is typical among rightwingers, in attempting to diminish the memo’s importance, Fox News over-reaches by including a quote from a spurious source that is an outright lie:

“As a smoking gun it leaves a lot to be desired,” said Kevin Aylward, a northern Virginia-based technology consultant who runs the conservative-leaning blog, Wizbangblog.com. “It’s interesting, but it’s probably fourth- or fifth-hand information.”

Dead wrong. The contents of the memo are based entirely on firsthand information. It presents minutes of a meeting among members of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s cabinet, which the memo-writer personally attended – and covers a report by a Blair official of conversations he personally held with Bush Administration officials.

The Fox article quickly moves then from the substance to the politics of the memo:

Aylward added: “I suspect the more interesting story at this point, seeing it three weeks later, is who is behind the letter-writing campaign to push it in the media.” Several popular left-leaning blogs have taken up the cause to keep the story alive, encouraging readers to contact media outlets. A Web site, DowningStreetMemo.com, tells readers to contact the White House directly with complaints.

Looked at from this perspective, the Fox coverage of the memo may signal genuine concern on the Right about its contents. Batting down the story now sends a signal to the Rightwing Echo Machine how to shape the coverage now for the Dittohead legions. These folks don’t care about the facts anyway.

And then there is a quote from a Rightwing pundit, who lays down the guantlet to the Left:

“This is a test of the left-wing blogosphere,” said Jim Pinkerton, syndicated columnist and regular contributor to FOX News Watch. “In many ways that memo might prove all of the arguments the critics of the war have made,” he added. “But the bulk of Americans don’t agree, or don’t seem that alarmed, so it is a power test to see if they can drive it back on the agenda.”

Challenge duly noted, Jim.

In an effort to simplify the sometimes confusing and always rancorous debate over Social Security reform, the ever-helpful wingnuts at The Heritage Foundation have come up wth a little SocSecCalculator for your convenience. Just plug in your age range and salary range, and voilá! All your retirement problems solved in two different scenarios, both of which put the moolah where it belongs — in YOUR pocket. Thanks Heritage Foundation!

Vice President Dick Cheney criticized North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during an appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live” show last week. Because of the holiday, his bellicose comments have gone largely unreported in the American mainstream media. However, they were heard loudly and clearly in Pyongyang, where North Korean leaders responded with a personal slur against U.S. Secretary of State Condileeza Rice.

International Herald Tribune:

Tensions between the United States and North Korea increased Monday as both sides turned up the rhetoric after a decision in Washington to dispatch 15 Nighthawk stealth fighters to the Korean Peninsula.

Vice President Dick Cheney of the United States described Kim Jong Il, the North Korean head of state, as an “irresponsible leader.”

North Korea, in turn, called the deployment of U.S. aircraft a prelude to war. On Monday, the state-run Pyongyang Radio, using a vulgar epithet, compared Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of the United States to a dog “that has no fear of a tiger and barks at it.”

The comments the Vice President made on CNN were in his classic understated but hyper-agressive style and obviously intended to provoke the North Koreans:

“I am concerned about it,” Mr Cheney said of the stalled negotiations, “Partly because … Kim Jong Il, who’s the leader of North Korea, is – I would describe as one of the world’s more irresponsible leaders.”

The Vice President accused Kim of running “a police state” and one of the most heavily militarised societies in the world while the bulk of the North Korean population lived “in abject poverty and stages of malnutrition.”

“He doesn’t take care of his people at all,” Mr Cheney continued. “And he obviously wants to throw his weight around and become a nuclear power.”

Mr Cheney called the stalemate with North Korea “a major problem” and assured that the Bush administration was “continuing to work it very hard” to re-launch the talks.

He said officials in Pyongyang must “understand that they’re not going to have normal relationships with the outside world, in terms of commerce, industry and trade, if they become a nuclear power.”

The Vice President also urged China to more aggressively use its clout with Pyongyang in trying to persuade it to return to the negotiating table.

“The Chinese need to understand that it’s incumbent upon them to be major players here,” Mr Cheney said.

This is the sort of “diplomacy” we can expect from Cheney’s man John Bolton when he’s confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The dirty little secret here (that isn’t a secret at all) is that our military is stretched thin. If we are to make good on Cheney’s threats, the U.S. will have to go back to war with North Korea, meaning either a bombing campaign – which could provoke a nuclear response from Pyongyang – an invasion by newly drafted American forces, or both.

Considering how poorly the invastion of Iraq was planned and implemented, we could be standing on the edge of a very dangerous precipice. This is the price we pay when we turn our government over to corrupt, lying and incompetent folks like the crowd in Washington now.

Tom Cruise is jumping on the anti-psychiatry Scientology bandwagon. Despite Florida Gov. Jeb Bush vetoing a bill last week after the cult sent heavyweight (and I told myself I wouldn’t make Kirstie Alley jokes) lobbyists to champion the cause, they aren’t giving up. And Cruise is mouthing his lines well.

Palm Beach Post:

Ignoring the pleas of Scientologist celebrities, Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday vetoed a measure that would have prohibited school administrators and teachers from keeping children who chronically misbehave out of school unless they take medication.

It will be awhile before Florida legislators get the image of a sobbing Kirstie, who testified in April, out of their minds. St. Petersburg Times:

Kirstie Alley was weeping so hard she could barely get the words out…

As she spoke, Alley held up pictures of adolescents who committed suicide after taking psychotropic drugs.

“None of these children were psychotic before they took these drugs. None of these children were suicidal before they took these drugs,” Alley said.

But the Scientology celebrity firepower, which included actor Kelly Preston, wife of actor John Travolta, wasn’t enough to convince the council.

Before they even heard from Alley and Preston, council members stripped the most controversial language out of the bill (HB 209).

The original bill said that before a school could refer a child for mental health treatment, it would have to tell parents there are no medical tests to diagnose mental illness. It also would have required schools to tell parents a mental disorder diagnosis will go on a student’s permanent record…

The council approved a watered-down version that simply prohibits schools from denying services to children who refuse psychotropic drugs. A similar federal law passed last year.

Why are Scientologists appearing before the Florida legislature? Scientology took over the west-central Florida town of Clearwater, starting in the 1970s. Today it’s their Salt Lake City, according to their web site.

Clearwater is the spiritual headquarters of the Scientology religion… [It] is the hub of the Scientology worldwide community, a dynamic, multilingual organization and is the largest single church of Scientology in the world.

Historically, when a small group of Church of Scientology staff first came to Clearwater in December 1975, acquiring the Fort Harrison and Clearwater Bank building, no Scientologist lived in the area.

Today, with more than a dozen buildings, the Church of Scientology’s 1,200 staff and more than 2,000 out-of-town visitors in any given week are only a small part of the Scientology community in the City, which is estimated to be in excess of 12,000.

Now, why would longtime residents feel they’d been taken over? The Travoltas live in nearby Ocala, by the way, which is why every John Travolta movie lately is filmed in or around Jacksonville.

Anyway, Cruise is mad as hell and he’s pledged to kick some psychiatric butt. After all, psychiatry isn’t a true science like, you know, Scientology. Tom, as quoted on Internet Movie Database:

“I’m going right after psychiatry and these false labels and this pseudo-science. I was diagnosed as dyslexic; I had a lot of energy as a child. They wanted to put me on drugs… Had I been put on those drugs, I never would be here today… I never would have had the career that I’m having. Am I making people aware of it by discussing it openly and saying what a fraud psychiatry is? You bet I am…”

Geez Tom, take a chill pill, why don’t cha?

The Los Angeles Times reports that conservative black pastors are not only enjoying total access to the State Department, but might get their own office soon.

Black pastors meet Rice, claim Africa ‘mandate’

Escalating its courtship of a politically powerful constituency, the Bush administration is teaming up with some of the nation’s best-known and most influential black clergy to craft a new role for U.S. churches in Africa…

The Rev. O’Neal Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach and a Republican [for more on Wingnut Dozier, read on], said Rice’s decision to huddle with the pastors gave them a “mandate” to craft Africa policy…

If it goes forward, the collaboration could substantially expand black-church participation in the faith-based initiative, from a largely domestic focus to an overseas portfolio that pastors think could make hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars available for black-church work combating AIDS and related social ills internationally. Rice and the pastors discussed establishing an office of faith-based initiatives within the State Department that would direct federal funds for overseas aid to church and community groups.

Blacks have traditionally been not only counted on to vote Democratic, but according to many, taken for granted by the Democratic party. Those days best come to a screeching halt.

The Democratic party isn’t just losing blacks to extreme religious causes. Many black business owners, just as white ones, see more value in aligning themselves with the GOP.

The Lakeland (Florida) Ledger:

The Frederick Douglass Republican Club of Central Florida will hold its chartering ceremony June 7.

The guest speaker will be Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.

In 2003, Steele became the first black in Maryland to be elected to a statewide office…

[Insurance agent Phillip] Walker changed his registration from Democrat to Republican three years ago. He said the party — with its low tax, low regulation message — better aligns with his political beliefs and religious convictions…

Anthony Broadnax, an engineer technician with Lakeland Electric, said he hopes the club will groom potential candidates for public office. He’s hoping the club will bring awareness to the black community.

“We need to educate our people regarding the party,” he said.

I hope the Florida, and national, Democratic parties will take note. The civil rights era is over, and blacks need new reasons to be Democrats.

I’m not sure Howard Dean, who wanted to be the candidate for guys with rebel flags on their trucks, fully appreciates the nuance of race in this country. And I don’t think New England/Massachusettes whiter-than-white guys like John Kerry or Michael Dukakis will ever carry the day.

Attention, Democrats: our ship could well be sailing.