Jay-Z, Bruce Ratner Sued for $5 Billion Dollars By Activist Clive Campbell
New York, NY (February 26, 2008) – Jay-Z, real estate developer Bruce Ratner and Barclays Bank have all been named in a $5 billion lawsuit filed by Brooklyn-based activist Clive Campbell, The Observer reported on Monday. The reason? Campbell asserts that African-Americans are owed reparations from Barclays in accordance with profits that were earned, he says, off of money from a lucrative slave trade.
The Observer’s summation of the issue at hand:
…”Mr. Ratner, Jay-Z, and Barclay’s are all linked through the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, for which Mr. Ratner plans to build a Frank Gehry-designed basketball arena for the Nets and more than 6,000 apartments. Jay-Z, a partial owner of the Nets, has been a major supporter of the project, appearing at press conferences to tout its merits. Barclays owns the naming rights to the arena, and has been accused of having links with the slave trade—an accusation the bank denies.
In the claim, Mr. Campbell said that Mr. Ratner and Jay-Z worked “in concert” with Barclays, and “profited from the African Slave Trade and continue to profit from these gains, through a conspiracy dating back hundreds of years and continue to date to oppress Black people, enslave them, unlawfully deport them to all corners of the Earth.””
Barclay’s has disputed their links to the slave trade, but certain research suggests they were tied directly to it through a series of mergers. This post comes from Norman Oder at the Atlantic Yards Report, a watchdog blog keeping tabs on the project. It’s an older post, but it contains a detailed account of how deeply Barclay’s pockets were invested in slavery. Read:
…”I (Oder) had criticized the (NY) Times for apparently confusing a general criticism — regarding Barclays’ apparent reliance on profits from the slave trade — with a blanket denial of direct involvement. Yesterday, the Times in essence acknowledged that a more subtle analysis was required, publishing an article that quoted an expert.
Under the headline ‘Barclays Arena Deal Raises a Reputed Link to Slavery,’ the article stated:
Peter Truell, a spokesman for Barclays, said, “Claims that Barclays was founded on the profits of slavery are untrue.”
…“Indeed, David Barclay, who was a partner in one of the primary Quaker banks in the 1770s that eventually merged to form Barclays, was opposed to slavery,” Mr. Truell added.
…Christopher Leslie Brown, a Rutgers history professor and an expert on the early British Empire, said in an interview that the Barclay family were slave owners, but minor ones.
Mr. Brown, who is black and the author of the 2006 book “Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism,” said, “The point I would make about these banks, like Barclays, is that much of the wealth generated in the 18th century came either directly or indirectly out of either the slave trade or plantations” in Virginia, Jamaica and Barbados.
He added, “This game of ‘gotcha!’ — pointing out this particular bank had relationships with slave traders or slaveholders — gets a little bit silly because all banks did. Barclays is not unusual in being connected to the history of slavery, nor is it unusually innocent.”
So Brown’s statement suggests that Truell’s denial goes too far; Barclays did in fact gain from the slave trade. However, Brown also suggested that singling out Barclays is unfair. (I wrote it was a company — not unlike some others — with some serious skeletons in its closet.)”
I’m not sure what the history of reparations litigation actually is, but this case seems to be standing on one strong leg and one weak leg. Dr. Brown’s opinion on the topic is really what’s at the crux of the issue. How a judge will interpret that, I couldn’t say. It will be interesting to see if the usual suspects get involved (ala Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, etc.). If that’s the case, you can bet you’ll be seeing it on CNN within the week. This is a link to a NY Times article about the area’s development, and this to the slideshow. BROOKLYYYYYYYYN!!!!
