Do you think the U.S. government should apologize to African Americans for slavery & Jim Crow?

Question

By the way I am very sorry for being born white.

Answer 1

Crackers, I'm not sure which is more disturbing: your question or some of the psychotic answers. Finding either sorrow or pride in the color of your skin seems vain and fruitless to me. PRIDE in being white? SORROW? Am I proud of my hair color, color of my eyes? Proud because my second toe is a bit longer than my great toe? Good grief! Take pride in your acomplishments, maybe; or perhaps in the groups of which you are a member; perhaps of your children or your friends but for heaven's sake make it something that actually means something. Unless, that is, you are a RACIST -in which case, you might preen before the mirror, admiring your white (or whatever color) skin. Or, in your case, let sorow be a substitute for action. An easy out.

Apologize? In the common use of that word, it means saying you are "sorry." In your case, Cracker, you're not sorry for what happened or what the government did, but rather, you are just "sorry" you are white. I'll send you a coupon for a tanning salon.

If I were a black American who was, in fact, very offended TODAY for government policies 150 years BACK THEN, I'd damn sure want a bit more than a miserable "I'm sorry." I'd want - I'd DEMAND action! Don't just TELL me you're sorry -DO something!

Now let's look at some of the other gaping fallacies in your tortured question. The GOVERNMENT apologize? Two problems, here: first of all, like many people, you want the government to do what YOU should do -if you're really sorry about it. But then again, asking the government to do things for us is what many people want. And then they complain about government intrusion when it does. And number 2: it was the government, acting under Lincoln, who abolished the very institution (slavery) that haunts you so much. As we all know, the mere fact that the government sets policy doesn't mean everyone goes along with it -and old Jim Crowe is evidence of that, and so was racial segregation. And prohibition wasn't exactly a popular program, either. So, what this all means is that it is up to us as individuals to actually DO something to set things right. But then again, that would require an effort on your part -and you'd rather leave it up to the government to do it for you. Sorry, I forgot that part.

By the way, where were you during the Civil Rights movement of the 60's. Not yet born? Stoned, maybe. At no time since reconstruction (look that up: "reconstruction") did the government do more to change the legal, political and economic environment that, at the time, was keeping millions of my black countrymen out of the system. Was it enough? No, it is never enough. The work continues to this day. But the greatest obstacle is no longer public policy as reflected in laws and regualtions: it is the attitudes of people, which take a long time to change. Take Dom Imus for example. His little love message was emblematic of stubborn prejudices that still haunt us. And he apologized. The stain of racial prejudice may have been wiped off the marble floors of our instituitions -but it is still buried within the cracks between the tiles and damned hard to clean away. Apologies just won't cut it.

So, forget the color of your skin and look at the color of your character. Then, DO something. Live like a decent human being.

Answer 2

Yes, the states that had slaves should issue an apology. Several states have done so. They dont have to, but it would be a thing to do. That way, it prevents other countries (those that still use slavery, in any form), from saying "well, the U.S. is hypocritical. they dont apologise for their slavery". And it resolves the issue of slavery once and for all.

But just do it once, and move on. Other countries dont apoligise for their actions. We do, that's what makes us Americans, the fact that we adapt. Just settle the issue once and for all, and lets move on.

We shouldn't dwell in the past, we should remember it, and not repeat it.

I'm not sorry for being born white, though. My family has always been here in the new world, and hopefully, always will be.

My oldest ancestors were shipbuilders, and lived in Veracruz, & Jailesco Mexico. Some ancestors still live in mexico to this day.

The second branch that came over were the Cowles and settled in Mass. in the 1630's. The beatty's came in the 1680's to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since the 1500's, my family has lived here, for good or ill.

My main point is, no matter what your ancestors or parents lived in history, dont be ashamed of it. It is what made US as a people and country.

Answer 3

First of all, I can pretty safely assure you that no one in office today owned slaves. Now get a few "SLAVE" facts.

Slavery was common in the US long before it was the US, by a couple of hundred years or so. Not all slaves were African. Slavery was a means of punishment in Europe for a long time. An incarcerated person would be sold by the state as an endentured servent. That eleminated the need of the state to care for the criminal and provide for his basic needs, while simultaneously generating revenue. Usually the difference between a slave and an endentured servent was that the endentured servent has a specific amount of time that he was to be held in service and a slave was considered property. Also there were many slaves, that through inbreeding with the masters, over generations were as white as I am, and that's pretty fair skinned. Actually it wasn't uncommon to find that a poor girl with absolutely no African heritage would be sold into slavery by her family, because they couldn't afford to provide for her and if she had even the slightest curl in her hair that was proof enough. Anyhow, absolutely not. The government does not need to apoligize to African Americans, Irish Americans, or even Native Americans. This continent was settled by Spaniards, French, Brits, Germans, Itallians, Chineese and just about every ethnic group, in addition to the Africans, and they all had their own tribulations. When will we all just say we're AMERICANS, without anything in front of it? That will be the day when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is actually realized.

Answer 4

Slavery and Jim Crow laws were wrong. But a lot of things that a lot of countries did in the past were wrong. We have moved on. I think people like Sharpton and Jackson owe their race an apology for trying to keep them feeling unequal. I am native, AI, Indian, indigenous, what ever you want to call me. We had a hard lick too but I love my country, and am very proud of how far we have come. I have had no "perks" whatsoever and I do not blame whites. I will continue to defend and protect our freedoms no matter what. If I did not feel that way, I would have to look for a way out of here.

Answer 5

No, because number one, todays government shouldnt have to apologize for something over and over again that the old government from 200 years ago did. Enough apologies have been made and enough money has been paid. Number two, it seems like the race card is thrown out in the news just because an african american was supposedly treated unfairly. so what? everybody has their turn of discrimination in america, be it native americans, african americans, asians, (especially the japanese, particularly around 1940's), Europeans, and now Middle easterns. It happens, who we pick on is dependent on who we are pissed off at the current point in time.

Answer 6

How many times have apologies been issued over slavery? Is it never enough?

I am also sorry for being born white, although my relatives came here from Italy long after slavery was abolished. Yet I still give up my job opportunities for affirmative action, I still have to hear about how "my people" enslaved the blacks, I still have to hear how we all owe something. And yet we live in a society where hardly anybody cares about the color of your skin any longer.

Answer 7

hell no. the u.s. didn't start slavery. it was started by the arabs, and it was here for years before we became a country. after the civil war, freed slaves had the opportunity to go to a newly-formed country just for the freed slaves-liberia-and the ones that didn't go stayed because they knew that there children would have it better here than in africa. look at africa today-the highest aids rate in the world, and the slave trading capitol of the world-africans making slaves out of their own people. how come you don't ever here about that?

Answer 8

No.Because the ones that started slavery are long gone by now.Never be ashamed of who you are.Being white does not mean you are responsible for slavery.Abraham Lincoln took the issue in hand and that should be enough.Obviously you are not prejudiced in any way and believe all men and women should be free.

Answer 9

Ummm, No.

They were given their freedom and have long since lived American Lives. There are NO Afarican Americans living who were slaves. It happened two hundred years ago. I think this apology and compensation thig everyone keeps talking about it crap. You want to get paid for your ancestors suffering? Fine. America will pay for your plane ticket back to Africa.

Answer 10

Why should the US govenrmanet apologize for something they were not a part of? Didn't that happen over 200 years ago? Get over it already.