Alderman Dorothy "The Hat" Tillman -- so nicknamed because of her continuous variety of colorful hats -- is a long-standing member of the Chicago City Council. Tillman has taken on, as her personal windmill to tilt, the cause of slavery reparations based upon the descendants of older firms that profited from the trade of slaves.

Tillman has most recently gone after Bank of America, and citing it's ties to predecessor banks. The one in question -- Providence Bank -- is the target of Tillman and her cronies, even though Providence distanced itself from the slave trade.

Founded in 1791, Providence Bank is a predecessor of Fleet Boston, which was acquired by Bank of America last year.

"First, the research disclosed no evidence establishing that the Providence Bank had investments or profits from slavery. Second, there is no indication of the source of the funds used by Brown to purchase his 23 shares in the bank. Last, the evidence suggests that the bank, in fact, avoided slave-related activities of John Brown or any other bank customer," said the bank's attorney V. Duncan Johnson.

Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd) accused "arrogant" bank officials of providing "selective and fraudulent" information to a joint City Council committee.

Tillman said research conducted by her daughter at some of the same places Bank of America looked -- the Rhode Island Historical Society and Brown University Library -- has already produced evidence that Providence Bank made loans used to purchase ships that transported slaves.

"The whole reason the bank was founded was so that the merchants could have a bank for their money to go through. Their whole existence was slavery. They had no other existence," she said.

"They thought they could bring this lawyer in and lie and just say, 'Moses Brown [John's brother] was an abolitionist. You see, they were good guys.' The lawyer's job was to protect Bank of America -- not to get to the truth. And we won't stop until we get to the truth."

Oh. And before you ask, yes, Tillman is a stark, raving mad, howling, moonbat Democrat. She's also a card carrying member of the soul patrol, who seems to think that any and everyone who is even remotely conservative is the spawn of Satan. And she is one of the name-calling crowd that denigrates black conservatives every and anytime they cross her path.

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