Georgetown Employee Learned The University Enslaved And Sold His Ancestor

Ever wondered why damned near every racial/ethnic group has received reparations except Black people? The answer can be reduced to one word: money. 

White people literally used Black people to amass their wealth and it would take every dime they have plus a few to repair the systematic damage they have done to us. 

And guess what? Georgetown University isn't paying a slim penny to the descendants of the 272 slaves that they sold in 1838 to keep the nation's oldest Catholic institution of higher learning afloat. One of its employees, Jeremy Alexander, 45, is struggling with the truth of how the school rose to the stature it has today as his great-great-great grandmother was one of those 272. 

Although President John J. DeGioia has apologized for its participation in the slave trade and has been working since 2015 to try and make things right, still no one is cutting any checks. Instead, on April 18 they are planning a religious ceremony as an apology for the $115,000 sale. In today's economy, that is the equivalent of $3.3 million. They also plan to name a couple of buildings after a pair of slaves.

The gesture is symbolic at best as slavery destroyed Black families. Tracing your lineage is no small feat and most Black folks go to their graves without knowing their lineage—ask Jeremy Alexander. He started his quest with a DNA test in 2014 which eventually led him to Mrs. Anna Mahoney Jones. She and her two young children were shipped off to a plantation in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Her husband managed to escape.

And while Alexander has been emotional about his deeper ties to his employer's history, he has also had to come to grips with the fact that he, like the two Jesuit priests that owned Anna Mahoney Jones, is also Catholic. The New York Times reported that he understands that's how "the United States operated at the time" and acknowledges how Georgetown "has worked to right the wrong." 

That's a noble thing to say, but not all of the descendants feel the same way Alexander does. Is it enough to apologize, name a few buildings, pass out a few scholarships, and wrap things up with a religious ceremony? After all, these were Catholics who owned and sold slaves--where was all that religion back then? 

Alexander has worked at Georgetown for the last three years. Is he going to get a job for life or at least a little something extra in his check? Sadly, this man's father died in 2014 so he can't even tell him about his own family history.

While no amount of money will change what happened here some 179 years ago, an apology and some whitewashing just ain't gon' git it. Georgetown is a rich powerful institution who rose to great heights off ill-gotten gains. Somebody needs to pay.