We acknowlege that it should never have happenned, but would apologizing do anything? Only in the South was slavery practiced for the most part for labor in the cotton fields. Nobody alive today was responsible. I feel that those that did or praticed it should have said they were sorry. Should we as a nation apologize now?
2007-03-02 01:18:27 · 50 answers · asked by Dave 6 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Polls & Surveys
I have never owned or enslaved anyone so I will not apologize!
2007-03-02 01:21:02 · answer #1 · answered by Celeste P 7 · 10⤊ 3⤋
Like you said, no one alive today was involved, but if it would help even a tiny bit, I am sorry that slavery was a part of american history. It went against the constitution, and should never have been allowed in the "land of the free" where "all men are created equal".
Although I am sorry this happened, I cannot apologize for something I never did. Being sorry something happened and apologizing for it are two different things.
2007-03-02 01:24:46 · answer #2 · answered by Squirrley Temple 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, ... people and whole nations throughout human history have been forced into slavery. No one group of people had it any better or worse than another, ... slavery, at one time was just a part of the human condition. For us to apologize is nothing but insignificant symbolism that would be meaningless. Instead of apologizing for the past, perhaps more can be done to ensure that slavery as it exists now can be eradicated.
2007-03-02 01:24:05 · answer #3 · answered by Owlchemy_ 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Couple Points.
First of all there WAS an apology paid in the blood of soldiers who died fighting for the North. (some are going to say the war wasnt really fought for slavery but those soldiers THOUGHT it was and it was used to motivate them)
Second. Have you looked at the standard of living for blacks in Africa. Tell me ONE country where blacks are as free, as rich and have as much opportunity as here. The point is YES slavery was horrible but african american's came out of that pain landing in the best country in the world.
WEEP over your past but CHEER that your ancestors ended up here and not as slaves in lower slobovia!
3. I am norwegian, 2nd generation and i had nothing to do with it. If reperations ever comes up in congress and wins that will be the last day i pay taxes..
2007-03-02 01:31:00 · answer #4 · answered by kent j 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can't change history. You can ignore it. How far back should the apology thing go? Should the Romans apologize to the Christians? Should the Mongols apologize to the Europeans?
Should Vikings apologize to the Britons?
Is slavery wrong - yes! Those that fail to study history are bound to repeat it. So let's not forget that slavery happened and make every effort to insure it will always be history.
No apology.
2007-03-02 01:27:00 · answer #5 · answered by jack w 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Wow, there's something wrong in your details there buddy: slavery was practiced just as much in the North as it was in the South. And slavery has already been apologized for. They already have everything they want: free money from the government called welfare, white people get in trouble everytime they do something even remotely racist but a black comedian can get on stage and say "cracker, honkey, etc." and make all kinds of jokes about white people without worrying about having to make a public apology, they can get a job before a white person even if the white person was more qualified because of affirmative action and STILL won't get up to go get a job because if they don't get it it's "because they're black". They have everything they could ever want and still want more. Slavery has been apologized for many times over. Bill Cosby has a speech or letter or something out there about black people today and how ashamed he is of his race and I think he puts it better than I ever could.
2007-03-02 01:29:09 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
As a nation? Way to go. You just implied that the United States is only composed by white people who should for apologize to blacks, who, according to what you just said, are not part of the United States, for something that happened generations ago and they had absolutely nothing to do with it. I'm not even white and I think you're making absolutely no sense.
2007-03-02 01:24:35 · answer #7 · answered by guicho79 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Slavery ended appx 200 years ago in England
Slavery ended appx 140 years ago in the US
No one is left alive who participated in the practice.
Any apology given would just be pure symbolism and have no substance.
I can not apologize for what someone else did. I didn't do it. So its not my place to apologize for it.
Find someone living who participated in the practice and make THEM apologize. Then it would possibly have meaning.
2007-03-02 01:24:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I formally apologize for what people I never knew did. My ancestors were busy being abused in another country at that time, so they came to the land of opportunity. I became the first in my family to graduate from college, and I hope my children take it a step further. Anyway, back to the apology, hope that suffices, as it should.
2007-03-02 01:22:56 · answer #9 · answered by jh 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
An apology is neither required nor accepted. The nation never even made good on "forty acres and a mule." I'll settle for five acres and an Escalade.
2007-03-02 02:08:29 · answer #10 · answered by wadacious 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. For several reasons:-
+ No-one alive today either exploited slavery or were themselves enslaved. Therefore there is no-one who can legitimately apologise and no-one to apologise to. I certainly don't want anyone apologising on my behalf for something I haven't done to someone I haven't harmed.
+ Slavery is viewed as wrong today, and rightly so. At the time it was NOT viewed as wrong. No laws were broken, moral or legal, in the context of the time. Apologising for slavery is like expecting Italians to apologise to Christians because the Romans threw Christians to the lions, or Norway apologising for the Viking Raids on England - nothing more than politically correct nonsense. If we want to do anything about slavery we should celebrate that the human race has grown up and moved on, rather than wringing our hands about something our ancestors did in the past which wasn't even viewed as bad at the time.
+ This may seem harsh, but many of the descendants of slaves (presumably those to whom any apology should be directed) are a lot better off than the descendants of those left in Africa. A number of generations later, the Africans who ended up in the USA, the Caribbean and elsewhere have less disease (like AIDS), less poverty and less civil war and political instability and unrest to endure than those who were left behind. It may not have been very pleasant at the time but the descendants of slaves have generally benefitted from their ancestors' enslavement.
+ I have heard the argument that we should apologise because we benefitted from slavery in the past by using slave labour to build up industries such as the cotton industry on which the Industrial Revolution was founded. Should we now apologise for becoming industrialised and accumulating wealth through legitimate hard work and innovation? To claim that the Industrial Revolution was founded entirely on slavery is stretching things a bit far; and even if it was true... would everyone still prefer to be stuck somewhere in the Dark Ages? Plenty of Africans were enslaved by the Arabs before the Brits and others came along. If there had been no Industrial Revolution then none of this debate would be possible and all Africans would still be sat in mud huts or throwing spears at each other. I know a lot of Africans in the New World suffer varying degrees of poverty but their poverty is NOTHING compared to the level of deprivation suffered in Africa.
Perhaps some of these whingers should count their blessings and get a life.
2007-03-02 01:20:41 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 4⤋