One hundred and forty years after any slave was legally held anywhere in the United States, the House of Representatives voted on a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and Jim Crow laws that discriminated against blacks mostly in the South.
House apologizes for slavery and Jim Crow
Resolution does not mention reparations; commits to rectifying ‘misdeeds’
msnbc
WASHINGTON – The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.
“Today represents a milestone in our nation’s efforts to remedy the ills of our past,” said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.
Congress has issued apologies before — to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for failing to pass anti-lynching laws.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said that he would consider introducing a similar resolution in the Senate. Passage of the bill marks the second time this year that Congress has issued an apology for past injustices. The Senate earlier apologized to Native Americans for mistreatment during the settling of the American West.
Obama comment about this
Obama notes ‘tragic’ US past (title from article)
star bulletin
“I personally would want to see our tragic history, or the tragic elements of our history, acknowledged,” the Democratic presidential hopeful said.
“I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it’s Native Americans or African-American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds.”
The US House of Representatives late Tuesday approved by voice vote a resolution [HR 194 materials] apologizing to African Americans for slavery and Jim Crow laws [backgrounder].
Jurist
The resolution declares:That the House of Representatives–
(1) acknowledges that slavery is incompatible with the basic founding principles recognized in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal;
(2) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow;
(3) apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow; and
(4) expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future.
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Wild Thing’s comment……..
When can the Irish, Jews, Poles, etc. expect their apologies for discrimination and quotas?
The Democrat members of the House are the ones who should sign the apology, since it was their party that advocated and fought for both slavery and Jim Crow laws.
Is this apologizing for American white people only….or also the Africans involved in the slave trade????
Is this part of a campaign to pave the way for an Obama presidency (i.e., a black president would help to “make up” for slavery)?
….Thank you Mark for sending the article to me.
I started getting into blogs after visiting your site. My third post after I started my site in April was on this.
Blacks and their leaders should think long and hard about reparations. After all was it not blacks that initiated slavery and was it not whites who set them free?
If they were not lucky enough to be in a western country today they would still be living in a “Darfur” kind of country. What kind of countries have they created in their homeland?
Black leaders need to apologize to all of America for their self serving and corrupt leadership in the Black community. The Black leadership, whether it is politicians or “reverands” has preached envy, victimhood, hate and government dependence for decades.
The Black “community” has had an even chance to pull itself up and accomplish it’s way to success through affirmative action and quotas. Although individuals have succeeded and admirably, the community as a whole has kept itself pretty much on the edge of anarchy. The Katrina fiasco exhibited the failings of much of the Black community.
Apologising for slavery, hmmmm, how does that fix anything ? How does that make anyone feel better, are they better off today than the day before the apology was offered, of course not.
I see this as just the beginning of the reparations movement which is underway now since a half white-half Black guy is running for president.
Are there any slaves left alive, aren’t those the people who needed the apology, not their deceneants, 4 and 5 generations removed.
The democrat party has sunk to a new low in pandering, only a democrat could come up with something as lame as this.
Why would anyone issue an apology for something they did not do? No one alive today was a slave or a slave master.
Bob, good point about all of this and very true. Thank you Bob and I am so glad you are a blogger and a friend too.
Tom, I agree so much.
And this describes it so well.
“The Katrina fiasco exhibited the failings of much of the Black community.”
Mark, yessss they sure specialize in pandering. And like you said none of this changes anything.
RWB, exactly, it is is stupid. And it is all to try to get votes and kiss up and nothing more.
I wonder who will apologize and provide reparations to the people for the damage to the country by the do nothing constructive liberal and obstructionist Democrats in Congress. A good start would be for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to reconvene Congress immediately and admit that they were wrong and pass legislation authorizing drilling for oil and gas in everyplace possible. They should also pass legislation to remove unnecessary regulations that have blocked the construction of new refineries and nuclear power plants.
Maybe when the Democrats stop making the country slaves to their tax and spend big government socialist bureaucracy we can talk about other apologies. Until then, they should shut the f’n up.
The War Between the States (1861-1865) saw 100,000 Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks lie dead on battlefields in the Un-United States…Then it was Blue vs. Gray and now it’s Red vs. Blue!
Then it was ABOLITIONISTS and now it’s APOLOGISTS…. So sickening these treasonous PC politicians, eh? God bless diXie forever!