Citigroup recently shared the results of a historical review conducted by an independent historical research firm. They claim to not have directly purchased, sold, or held any enslaved people. However, the story didn’t end there.
Citigroup is one of the few banks to submit themselves to a historical review as a part of a racial equity pledge taken shortly after the killing of George Floyd. Others include JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. All organizations overwhelmingly “discovered” their links to slavery.
Ultimately, historians said that Citi did have historical financial ties to slavery. During the early years of the City’s development, they held accounts for a man named Moses Taylor who earned a fortune from importing sugar produced by slave labor. “City Bank of New York likely profited indirectly from enslaved labor in Cuba by engaging in transactions with Taylor and his businesses,” the report said.
The American economy was built off of slave labor and the trade of goods like cotton, rum, sugar, and tobacco. Banks based their investments on Black labor and grew rich from our ancestors’ forced captivity.
While these reviews and reports help illuminate the truth, banks and corporations must do more to support actual change. Until that is put into practice and transformative justice begins, everything else is just lip service.