by Charlene Muhammad

LOS ANGELES (FinalCall.com)�On May 1, the California Department of Insurance (CDI) released a report detailing the names of eight California insurance companies, or their predecessor companies, which operated during the slavery era and sold insurance policies on slaves.

The 81-page document stemmed from a CDI industry survey under Senate Bill 2199 ("Slavery Era Insurance Policies"), which calls for all California insurance companies to make public information relative to all slave insurance policies written by them, or companies they acquired, which operated during the slavery era.

According to CDI, of all the insurance carriers notified last January, 92 percent have complied with the state directive.

Responding companies were ACE USA for predecessors Insurance Company of North America (ICNA) and Aetna Fire; AETNA for Aetna Life Insurance Company (ALIC); AIG for predecessor United States Life Insurance Company, Manhattan Life; New York Life for predecessors Nautilus Insurance Company, Penn Mutual, Providence Washington, and Royal & Sun Alliance.

According to CDI�s report, Penn Mutual and Providence Washington responded that neither they, nor acquired companies, insured slaves.

CDI�s report includes a registry, which lists the names of slaves, slaveholders, the reporting insurance company and other identifying information about slaves. The report was released to the press, made available for public viewing at CDI�s Viewing Rooms in San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as posted on their Web site at www.insurance.ca.gov.

One entry submitted by Aetna Life Insurance Company was a policy dated January 13, 1860, which insured a 19-year-old slave named Henry for slaveholder Charles Meyer. It listed Henry�s coverage for work as a blacksmith.

New York Life reported that of its predecessor�s first 1,000 policies, 339 were on the lives of slaves, for about $500 or less, and for a one-year term. The company provided a list of 484 names of slaves and 233 names of slaveholders.

New York Life, the report further indicated, stated that it abhors the practice of slavery and profoundly regrets that its predecessor was associated in any way with that contemptible practice for even a brief period of time.

From A-Z, the lists scrolled on and on with numerous first, and sometimes last, names of men, women, and children disconnected from their families and heritage due to the trans-Atlantic slave trade over 400 years ago.

Beyond furthering the establishment of all parties involved in, and who profited from the tragedy of the slave trade, local advocates for reparations say the documents will ease the task of slave descendants in tracking their lineage. They further said that although they viewed the action as a step in the right direction, it is just the tip of the iceberg.

"This really lays the foundation that really shows how deep the slave trade and slave profits are interwoven into the economy of America, starting with the insurance companies," said Pastor M. Andrew Robinson Gaither of Southwest L.A.�s Faith United Methodist Community Church. Insurance companies profit well, but the degree of economic growth on the backs of slaves is unimaginable, observers said.

The fact-findings provide more ammunition against reparations opponents, advocates say; however, with or without them, the suffering caused by slavery cannot be denied by anyone, or otherwise.

Morris "Big Money Griff" Griffin, the founder and coordinator of L.A.-based N�Crew (National Coalition for Reparations and Economic Wealth), does not care what "sell-outs" have to say about whether Blacks deserve reparations or not.

"The Japanese, the Jews, the Indians, are no better than Black African Americans who made America the richest country in the world. America got rich off the backs of Blacks and no bootlicking Negro is going to tell us that Black, African American descendents of slaves don�t deserve reparations," he stated.

Mr. Griffin said N�Crew is a Black, proactive reparations education group that has been operating for over 5 years now.

"The California Insurance Commissioner�s report on slave-era policies is another revelation of the myriad roles that the insurance industry played in slavery, segregation and discrimination in our nation�s history. While the report identifies eight companies, the involvement and impact of the insurance industry and slave-era policies is much broader," stated Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in a release from Rainbow/PUSH headquarters.

He said that the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition will increase its advocacy for diversity and inclusion, specifically targeting the insurance industry.

Rainbow/PUSH offered suggestions for a national review of the insurance industry, including an economic impact of premiums for slavery-era policies; an examination of broader policy issues from slavery era insurance to race-based insurance practices; a call to Congress and state legislatures to initiate public inquiries on slave-era policies with similar legislation in respective states; the release of any actual policies or copies to local Black historical museums nationwide; allowing descendants to effectively track family histories and genealogy reviews; allowing all Blacks to understand the origin and realities of the slave trade; and acknowledge that pursuing these avenues and resources is not reparations, but recovery of economic violations.

Pastor Gaither said it is a must that today�s current population of Whites shoulder the responsibility of reparations, because they have reaped the rewards of what slavery has brought to America.

"Reparations speaks to the role that Blacks played in America, where we�ve never gotten paid. We�ve never gotten the 40 acres and a mule. This is a second opportunity, I think, to reclaim that. � I think it is incumbent upon us during these economic times to challenge the system to rise to the occasion," Rev. Gaither stated.