Senate Approves Apology To African-Americans For Slavery

[Hooahguy]

ok......

The U.S. Senate approved a fiercely worded resolution Thursday that attempts to formally apologize for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery" of African-Americans.

what was the point of this? considering there is no one left who suffered under pre-civil war slavery, this sounds like needless time wasting.
dont get me wrong, slavery is horrible, but was this a good use of the Senate's time, apologizing for something that happened over 100 years ago?

[Beskar]

Australians had to do the same. It is for people with an axe to grind. It just formally says that they were wrong, so people can get over with it and assist in moving on.

[tibilicus]

Australians had to do the same. It is for people with an axe to grind. It just formally says that they were wrong, so people can get over with it and assist in moving on.

It's different though. The Australian case in comparison to Slavery happened relevantly recently + pretty much destroyed a native population.

[Rhyfelwyr]

No big deal, how long does it take to say sorry?

Better to just get it done and clear up any cobwebs.

[Xiahou]

You'd think that Civil War was apology enough. But whatever, it's a meaningless resolution.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

This is an evil thing, such a resolution apolagising for the suffering of the ancestors of blacks formally endorses the claim that today's whites are guilty for something their own ancestors may or may not have been involved in.

Such a resolution legitimises racial hatred.

[rory_20_uk]

I think it's time the Danes et al apologised for the Vikings, the Chinese apologised for the Black Death, and every apologises for everything that happened hundreds of years ago as that's bound to make the world a better place...

[Megas Methuselah]

I think it's time the Danes et al apologised for the Vikings, the Chinese apologised for the Black Death, and every apologises for everything that happened hundreds of years ago as that's bound to make the world a better place...

Although you do have a point, don't be so negative. Apologies such as this are symbolic, and, as Beskar says:

It just formally says that they were wrong, so people can get over with it and assist in moving on.

Check this out, for example. Stephen Harper apologized for the residential school system in Canada. This is different, though, as there are still survivors of residential school system (a system which continued well into the 1970's).

[Lemur]

These sorts of resolutions cost us nothing. Yes, they're meaningless, but so long as they don't damage us, I don't see the problem.

[miotas]

Australians had to do the same. It is for people with an axe to grind. It just formally says that they were wrong, so people can get over with it and assist in moving on.

Hardly comparable to a policy of attempted genocide that ended less than 40 years ago.

But apologising for something that ended over 140 years ago is futile.

[Beskar]

There was a big thing (in Britain) though when the Germany demanded Britain to apologise for the actions of the RAF in the Second World War. Obviously many lives were lost, but domestically, it never goes down well.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

These sorts of resolutions cost us nothing. Yes, they're meaningless, but so long as they don't damage us, I don't see the problem.

You should not be made to apolagise for something that you are not responsible for in any way.

[CountArach]

I don't see a problem here

[Hooahguy]

These sorts of resolutions cost us nothing. Yes, they're meaningless, but so long as they don't damage us, I don't see the problem.

not true. we have to pay senators, right?
bam, there we go. wasted time= wasted tax dollars.

[CountArach]

not true. we have to pay senators, right?
bam, there we go. wasted time= wasted tax dollars.

You would be paying them whether they were making this resolution or not. And while they were making this resolution they weren't pork-barelling.

Bam, there we go. Making resolutions = saving tax dollars.

[Hosakawa Tito]

There is no problem CA, except some people expect/demand/won't settle for less than cash. Hence, the reparations disclaimer which taints the whole purpose of an apology. However, with the shake down nature of our legal system apparently it was felt to be legally prudent to do so.

[Jolt]

Using Karl's expression:


"No hard feelings, right?"

[Rhyfelwyr]

Presumably the apology is meant to be behalf of the US government, rather than it being representative of every white guy saying sorry. If a black guy was the spokesman for Congress, the apology would have the same purpose and meaning.

There's nothing wrong with a government apologising for the previous crimes carried out through its institutions. There is a difference between that and every current Congressman apologising for what happened, because that would be stupid.

Of course, I may be completely misunderstanding this, I can't read the whole article because I'm not subscribed.

[Tratorix]

Well, good to know that whole slavery thing is over with. We cool, right?

[Major Robert Dump]

And on behalf of white Americans, particularly those with links to the Union and abolishonists, I would like to tell the African Americans:


YOU'RE WELCOME

[KukriKhan]

In '88 Reagan signed the Raparation Law for Japanese-American internees (from WWII): $20,000 to each surviving internee and a $1.25 billion education fund, this after a kind of truth-and-reconciliation' process conducted by The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (1981-6).

An apology is one step. We gotta do the t&r thing too, if Congress is serious about putting things right; and ultimately, money has to be discussed, to put the scourge of slavery and Jim Crow behind us (all of us) once and for all. "40 acres and a mule" were promised after the USCW, but never delivered. I daresay slave descendents would settle for less than 40 acres - maybe 2 years free ride through the institution of higher learning of their choice (for which they qualify). How much could that be, a couple billion? Less than we're giving to Iraq, or banks, or insurance companies, or auto makers.

Then, having gotten experience doing that, we can finally talk about Native Americans.

Then, maybe, we can quit talking about hyphenated-americans, and just be americans.

[Strike For The South]

In '88 Reagan signed the Raparation Law for Japanese-American internees (from WWII): $20,000 to each surviving internee and a $1.25 billion education fund, this after a kind of truth-and-reconciliation' process conducted by The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (1981-6).

An apology is one step. We gotta do the t&r thing too, if Congress is serious about putting things right; and ultimately, money has to be discussed, to put the scourge of slavery and Jim Crow behind us (all of us) once and for all. "40 acres and a mule" were promised after the USCW, but never delivered. I daresay slave descendents would settle for less than 40 acres - maybe 2 years free ride through the institution of higher learning of their choice (for which they qualify). How much could that be, a couple billion? Less than we're giving to Iraq, or banks, or insurance companies, or auto makers.

Then, having gotten experience doing that, we can finally talk about Native Americans.

Then, maybe, we can quit talking about hyphenated-americans, and just be americans.

You can't be serious.

[KukriKhan]

You can't be serious.

Dead serious.

Solve it once and for all, one-time shot, as should have been done a hundred years ago. Then the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons, and national guilt, and lingering resentment... all of it has no leg to stand on. And we're a better people, facing the music squarely, honestly, and addressing & resolving the evil that was done by those who came before us. To me, it would be the final step out of "America, the feckless teenager" to "America, the Grownup", worthy of the soaring rhetoric we spout around the world, and to ourselves.

[Lord Winter]

Except that all those hurt by slavery are dead. I fail to see how paying someone blood money will make us a more mature nation. If we really want to move past it, lets devote ourselves to making sure that racism ceases to exists. There are some things that money can't solve.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Do I have to pay extra taxes because of this?

I don't?

Cool. Now let's move on.

[Marshal Murat]

Then, maybe, we can quit talking about hyphenated-americans, and just be americans.

I enjoy my hyphenated status as a Scot-Welsh-English-German-American.

[Lord Winter]

Also I want my apology for the discrimination the Irish received from the KKK et. al.

[Lemur]

Dave, how I've missed you. I treasure the moments we share in between your bans.

[Devastatin Dave]

Dave, how I've missed you. I treasure the moments we share in between your bans.

If this one doesn't get me banned, I'll burn Obama in effigy on your front lawn.
Well, Ill see you guys...never.

[Proletariat]

Did Thomas Sowell hijack DD's account? :O