Sorry, the article was kinda long so I edited it.
Quote:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the first company to acknowledge that two of its predecessor banks had specific links to the slave trade. The filing was meant to comply with a Chicago ordinance requiring such disclosures.
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JPMorgan said it was setting up a program called Smart Start Louisiana. The bank will provide $5 million over five years for full tuition undergraduate scholarships for African-American students from Louisiana to attend college in their home state.
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I have problems with this on a bunch of levels. While slavery is morally reprehensible, it was legal at the time. The link between JP Morgan and these banks is based on aquisition, merger, and bank failure. JP Morgan itself didn't benefit from this transaction. No one alive today was harmed by this action, additionally, being used as collateral didn't change their situation at the time. Current stockholders have no link to slavery, but are paying the penalty.
I really don't think that this is in anyone's best interest. I'm guessing that the vast majority of JP Morgan stockholders have no direct decendents that owned slaves. I'd also guess that JP Morgan has stockholders that are decendants of slaves.