City Councilwoman claims J.P. Morgan Chase Co. lied about Slavery Past

• Originally published in the Chicago Sun Times on 5/4/2004 [here]
  

With an assist from her daughter ,the City Council's champion for slave reparations produced what she called irrefutable evidence to support her claim that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. had past ties to slavery and ''lied'' about it on an affidavit. ''They said they had nothing to do with slavery. ... The affidavit says if you lie, then your [ city ] contract is null and void,'' said Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd).

The J.P. Morgan Chase testimony was part of a hearing stemming from a 2002 ordinance requiring city contractors to come clean about their ties to slavery.

Tillman said documents uncovered by a research team led by her daughter , Ebony, directly contradict the blanket denial given to Chicago aldermen on March 5 by Frederick Hill, executive vice president for J.P. Morgan Chase.

If Tillman is right, J.P. Morgan Chase could be barred from doing business with the city and accepting deposits of Chicago tax dollars. The banking giant is also one of nine teams vying for the right to operate the Chicago Skyway.