Blackhacker

FreeBSD 5.4 came out yesterday

The Release Engineering Team is happy to announce the availability of FreeBSD 5.4-RELEASE, the latest release of the FreeBSD Stable development branch. Since FreeBSD 5.3-RELEASE in November 2004 we have made many improvements in functionality, stability, performance, and device driver support for some hardware, as well as dealt with known security issues and made many bugfixes.

And it has a torrent!!!!

This story caught my eye the WSJ this morning and I did some Googling to get a broader context.

BAW

JP Morgan’s Slave Ties Disclosed, Response Offer Called ‘Insulting’

Date: Sunday, January 30, 2005
By: Michael H. Cottman

JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s second-largest bank, has acknowledged that prior to the Civil War, thousands of slaves were accepted as collateral for loans by two banks that were later linked to the banking conglomerate.

In a company-wide letter, the New York-based bank apologized for contributing to “a brutal and unjust institution” and announced that it was setting up a college scholarship fund for black students in Louisiana to compensate for slavery.

BBC

JP Morgan admits US slavery links
House on plantation in southern US
The US’s economic history hides some unpleasant truths
Thousands of slaves were accepted as collateral for loans by two banks that later became part of JP Morgan Chase.

The admission is part of an apology sent to JP Morgan staff after the bank researched its links to slavery in order to meet legislation in Chicago.

WSJ (ca-ching)

A Historian’s Quest Links J.P. Morgan To Slave Ownership
Bank’s Distant Predecessor
Took Human Collateral
For Rich Client’s Debt

By ROBIN SIDEL
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 10, 2005; Page A1

COVINGTON, La. — Hired by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., historian James Lide descended on this quiet hamlet last year and began digging into the 170-year-old records of Citizens Bank of Louisiana, a predecessor of the New York bank.

After 3,500 hours of research, he confirmed what his client didn’t want to hear: Between 1834 and 1861, Citizens had secured loans with mortgages on land — and thousands of slaves.

A little back ground. In 2003 Chicago passed an ordnance that make any company doing business with the city must investigate and disclose its ties to slavery. Bank One did some bond work for the city and it was acquired by JP Morgan. After the investigation this what came up.

For those whose business it is to be outraged they are of course outraged at the reaction of JP Morgan. I am not. I think it is a good first step. I think what is more interesting though is we see through this one local ordanance how much the entire country profited from the worst Human rights crime in US History. Especially for those who think they have nothing to do with slavery, that it remains was in the passed, and that they owe no reparations.