Virginia apologizes for slavery...when can we move past this?

Question

Why can't we move past this?

I got punished as a kid for things my brother did but I let go. I don't live in the past. I didn't make my Mom & Dad apologize around every turn.

Would they RATHER be in Africa with the poverty and disease? Slavery is and was very bad but...THEY ARE IN AMERICA now. There is a silver lining for today's black people.

I never owned a slave and no one today was ever a slave. Time to put this behind us and move forward.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Meeting on the grounds of the former Confederate Capitol, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously Saturday to express "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery.

Sponsors of the resolution say they know of no other state that has apologized for slavery, although Missouri lawmakers are considering such a measure. The resolution does not carry the weight of law but sends an important symbolic message, supporters said.

The DRUDGE REPORT
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Meeting on the grounds of the former Confederate Capitol, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously Saturday to express "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery.

Sponsors of the resolution say they know of no other state that has apologized for slavery, although Missouri lawmakers are considering such a measure. The resolution does not carry the weight of law but sends an important symbolic message, supporters said.

"This session will be remembered for a lot of things, but 20 years hence I suspect one of those things will be the fact that we came together and passed this resolution," said Delegate A. Donald McEachin, a Democrat who sponsored it in the House of Delegates.

Answer 1

Some blacks are using slavery as a reason for their demise. While those african americans that have worked hard and gotten past the "stigma" of being an ancestor to a slave seem to not care so much. The only people i've ever seen blame whites for all their problems are the poor. The rich blacks don't understand what the big deal is.

I watched a documentary once about some highschool student going to africa.....one of the black students thought it was going to be so great because he would be able to fit in so well in the land that was the home of his ancestors.....By the end of the show he was balling his eyes out because they wouldn't "accept" him. The reality is, maybe they all need that type of shock to realize how well they really have it in America. Because the only people that are keeping us in the past are the blacks.

Answer 2

At first, I thought this was a huge waste of time and energy on the part of the Virginia House, but now I'm not so sure. After thinking about it, I don't think it's a bad idea at all. Especially since it was NOT an "apology" but a "statement of regret." An apology implies concieved guilt and admission of responsibility; a statement of regret doesn't. An apology will open the door for monetary reparations, while a statement of regret will not.

And trust me, that door to reparations will be tried any day now....

Actually, I don't see a problem with ALL of the former Confederate States issuing similar statements of regret. That would effectively remove the tired old argument of "my great-great-great-great-grandfather was a slave, so YOU OWE ME THIS AND THIS!" Of course, there will be those that will say a statement of regret - even a full-blown apology - will not be enough, and they'll then try to open that door to reparations.

But it won't work. By that time public opinion will have swung the other way, and the rest of the civilized nation will see that even after the former Confederate States have all issued "statements of regret," there will continue to be a part of the black community that will still want a handout - something for nothing - and that part of the community will finally be recognized for what it really is, and will be scorned and ignored. And get NOTHING, which is just what they deserve.

Yes, slavery was an abomination and a blight on the face of our great nation, but if you want to lay blame for it and get an apology from someone over it, then you'd better be prepared to lay the blame squarely in the laps of our Founding Fathers who allowed a Constitution that did NOT outlaw slavery to be ratified, and you'd better expect the apology to come from the US Government and NOT the Southern states. After all, if you're going to hold the ancestors accountable for the misdeeds of the dead, then you'd better go after the Federal government because THEY are the ancestors of the ones responsible.

Answer 3

I think we can move past slavery when people wake up and realize that what our social system is doing to African Americans (not all, just the ones I work with every day) is as bad, if not worse, than slavery.

We have committed a more perverse act of slavery, in that we are allowing generation after generation of people to believe that they are not accountable for their actions, because our government is WHITE.

And I will be called racist. Whatever. I put my money where my mouth is. I am in the trenches, trying to save them from our system, by trying to teach my clients that they must save themselves. And my clients know that I am 100% committed to being on their side. People can see through the crap.

EDIT: And for the record, I am not racist, not even a tiny bit. I think that all humans were endowed, by our Creator, with the ability to take care of ourselves. And the desire to try. And I blame public education.

Answer 4

Is all ceremonial and people trying to be PC. Slavery was horrible but we can't keep punishing ourselves for this and what does this bill mean? Does Virgnia need a piece of paper to admit slavery was wrong? I don't even know why the bother or why this is even news. We have more important issues and the assembly has wasted its time on this.

Answer 5

Africa with what??? I know that bigots have a hard time understanding that Africa is a continent, made up of several countries. The bigots often paint the continent with one brush out of obvious ignorance. As I do not live in Virgina, they can apologize, not apologize or commit treason again by starting a Civil War.

I will give them an "A" for effort. This helps to take away some of the arguments posed by blacks who are bigots. One can choose to address a historical issue or ignore it. The choice is up to the individual.

Bigots have a harder time addressing racial issues. They are too blind to see the chance to promote the other side of the issue such as the many whites who sacrificed and died to turn this historically racist country around from its wicked ways of slavery and segregation.

- I appreciate my friends of all cultures, including my own, who have helped me throughout my life. -

Answer 6

Why are people so hung up on an APOLOGY? If it helps to ease a little tension, why the hell not? What does it cost anyone to express regret for something that happened in their state's history? At the very least, it's important to acknowledge mistakes made in the past, if we're going to be clear about what's not acceptable to allow to happen again.

Answer 7

Well who is going to be hurt by apologizing for slavery? Also I don't really think you should compare getting into trouble as a kid for your brother's doings can really at all be compared to what slavery was. And the fact is, ending slavery in the US wasn't that long ago compared to many other things in history. Also many black people are still sensitive about this subject, and many white people are still racist.

Answer 8

I agree. What a bunch of wasted time. There is serious business to be taken care of but politicians being what they are need to kiss some black voter butt to try and get their votes. There are no slaves alive anymore in that state and most black cant remember talking to a person that was a slave. Take care of business! Politicians suck!

Answer 9

Too bad they aren't as apologetic towards the Native Americans we basically wiped out. But, I agree, it's time to let this go. I don't think I should feel guilty over something my ancestors did. But, there are quite a few who don't have it much better here.

Answer 10

Getting punished as a kid is hardly the same thing as removing a history, a culture, a people's identity...enslaving them, abusing them in countless ways, and leaving them to try to put together a cultural identity from whole cloth.

White Americans left black people with a whole raft of issues that continue to be passed on from generation to generation.

Or do you believe that after more than two hundred years in slavery, removed from their culture and history, and treated as subhuman... that it should have been an easy matter to just get up, dust themselves off and continue on where they left off?

I can't imagine that any rational person would believe that.

These people were enslaved for 250 years, and how long since abolition? How long since the Civil Rights movement?

Do you really expect that two and a half centuries of utter devastation to a people can be entirely undone in 150 years? ... And that's being generous about conditions since abolition... because really conditions have only started to improve substantially in the last 50 years.

And this fact remains; the expected impediments to the healing and growth of Black culture aside, the U.S. is STILL one of the most racist of all modern countries.

That doesn't make the task for black society any easier.