03/30/2004: 
Criminally Absurd
Slave descendants file $1 billion suit against corporations
from The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) Descendants of slaves filed a $1 billion lawsuit against U.S. and British corporations on Monday, accusing them of profiting by committing genocide against their ancestors.
Lawyers for the eight plaintiffs said the complaint, unlike past suits seeking reparations for slavery, was the first to use DNA to link the plaintiffs to Africans who suffered atrocities during the slave trade.
The suit filed in federal court in Manhattan accuses Lloyd's of London, FleetBoston and R.J. Reynolds of "aiding and abetting the commission of genocide" by allegedly financing and insuring the ships that delivered slaves to tobacco plantations in the United States.
The defendants "have destroyed our national and ethnic identity," one of the plaintiffs, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, said at a news conference announcing the suit, which seeks $1 billion in punitive damages.
DNA testing has made a "direct connection" between Farmer-Paellmann and the Mende tribe in Sierra Leone, whose people "were kidnapped, tortured and shipped in chains to the United States," the suit said.
Scientific evidence also has linked the other plaintiffs to tribes in Niger and Gambia, the suit said.
R.J. Reynolds spokeswoman Ellen Matthews said the company had not received a copy of the suit. Calls to the other defendants were not immediately returned.
In January, a federal judge in Chicago threw out a similar suit brought by descendants of slaves.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle ruled the plaintiffs' claims "are beyond the constitutional authority of this court." And he said the suit drew no specific connection between the plaintiffs and the companies named as defendants.
3 Annotations Submitted
Tuesday the 30th of March, dave chapelle noted:
I'm rich beatch!
Tuesday the 30th of March, Bill Clinton noted:
I thought this shit would end when I apologized for slavery.
Tuesday the 30th of March, Goth reparations now! noted:
as a Goth descendant, I hereby demand reparations from the Roman Republic for killing off my people and taking their land and selling us into slavery.
