Smithers, see how my Confederate Slaveholdings stock is doing!

Timing -- I'm certain that slavery and racism are intertwined...I'm also certain they're both evil!

But what I'm saying is...allegations are broken up into parts. Allegation 1 is these companies made money off of slavery. As far as I understand it, that's all that's been alleged in this lawsuit...which means subsequent racism is irrelevant to this lawsuit...it's not irrelevant in a more general discussion concerning problems of slavery and racism...but for the purposes of proving her case and proving up damages, all that matters is how much money was due her relatives that they didn't get paid for. That's how I understand her petition to read.

 

I agree with the lawyers and TL on this one. (Always a safe to agree with lawyers when discussing legal issues. ).This should not be in the courts. They are not the place to deal with this kind of issue, and using this technique as a publicity ploy cheapens the cause and diminishes respect for the legal system in people who don't clearly understand it and the function of the courts. (And lets face it, there are a lot of people who fall into this category.) The issue has nothing to do with whether slavery was morally wrong, but those promoting this issue are trying to confuse the issue with this kind of hype. OTOH, trying to claim damages for events that occurred to one's great great grandparents looks like greedy opportunism. So amongst the public, you have one large group focused on the evils of racism, which isn't at issue, and another large group focused on the apparent greed and opportunism, which is not the message the those bringing the suit we trying to send, I suspect. So instead of accomplishing anything positive in terms of addressing racial issues, the suit is creating confusion, division and resentment. All in all, I'd say this was a very poorly thought out action.