BACKGROUND

On October 21, 2002, the Chicago City Council passed, by a vote of 44-0, an ordinance called the Chicago Slavery Era Records Disclosure Ordinance requiring all entities doing business with the city to declare, under oath and penalty of perjury, that they have searched all of their and their predecessor’s slavery era records, and that they have disclosed all records found that reference the names or identities of all enslaved Africans; and all profits obtained by or through participation in the “slave industry.” This Ordinance went into full force and effect on February 6, 2003. This Ordinance has not been enforced.

Similar Ordinances were passed in Philadelphia, Detroit, Wayne County (Michigan), Milwaukee, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond (California). These Ordinance have not been enforced as well.

On May 12, 2006, Bob Brown, representing Pan-African Roots, filed a 283-page slavery era records disclosure and whistle blower lawsuit, pro se, against 102 city contractors for failing to implementthe Chicago Slavery Era Records Disclosure Ordinance. This lawsuit was dismissed on September 25, 2009. In her Memorandum Decision and Order, Judge Rita M. Novak, Circuit Court of Cook County, tellingly admitted the truth of the lawsuit’s allegations:

“Essentially,” according to Judge Novak, “Plaintiff [Bob Brown] argues that Defendants knew or should have known, with some investigative effort, that they or their predecessor entities had ties to slavery. Plaintiff’s own research into historical texts, newspaper articles, press releases, and Internet sources indicated Defendants’ ties to slavery era business. … Plaintiff is a historian and researcher who compiled publicly disclosed information to offer an important social expose on the City’s business partners.”

OUR DEMAND

We the undersigned demand that Rahm Emmanuel, Mayor of the City of Chicago:

(1) Enforce, immediately and unconditionally, the Chicago Slavery Era Records Disclosure Ordinance and Chicago False Claims and False Statements Act.
(2) Compile and publicly release, immediately, an audited Report on the enforcement, or lack of enforcement, of this Ordinance from February 6, 2003, to today.
(3) Convene hearings in the City Council to discuss this Report, as required by law.
(4) Assess, as allowed by the Chicago False Statements and False Claims Act, penalties, fines and treble damages against all entities who have not implemented the Chicago Slavery Era Records Disclosure Ordinance; void their contracts; bar them from doing business with the City of Chicago; and divest all governmental assets..
(5) Apologize for the City’s failure to implement this Ordinance.
(6) Appoint a “Slavery Era Records Disclosure Commission” to monitor the ongoing enforcement of the and advise the City of Chicago on how the monies recovered from this massive and continuing fraud should be spent.

The undersigned demand that the monies recovered be used to: (a) balance the City’s budget and create an endowment against future deficits; (b) fund educational, employment (youth and adult), social service, cultural, sporting and other not-for-profit programs badly needed by the citizens of Chicago; and (c) fund continuing research on the enslavement of African, Indigenous, Hispanic and other Peoples, and its historical and continuing impact on Chicago, Cook County, the State of Illinois, the United States and the World.

The Undersigned also demand that the Slavery Era Records Ordinances in Philadelphia, Detroit, Wayne County (Michigan), Milwaukee, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond (California) be implemented as well.

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