Should States Apologize for Slavery?
March 27, 2007
TIME Magazine asks this question. What do you think?
{democracy:2}
I personally do see value in these “sponsored apologies” like this one and the one by Bill Clinton on for the Tuskegee Experiment.
However, it is important to understand that these types of symbolic gestures are not and should not be the goal of the civil rights activist. The activist’s goal(s) should be more about creating present-day solutions than securing apologies for yesterday’s evils.
One Love. One II.
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3 Responses to “Should States Apologize for Slavery?”
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I see tremendous value in them as well. I agree with you, G, that they should not be the “goal” of civil rights activists (or any activists for that matter), but the gesture of it does hold some weight. To never apologize is to never recognize; why say you’re sorry for something that never occurred? At least with these, it’s opening avenues for discussion or at least for thought. Granted, somebody may look at these as legistaors finding a way to “get these Black people off our back”, but at least it’s taking conscious effort to do so. I don’t know; I don’t think they’re fruitless, I don’t think they’re the be-all-end-all, but they’re something. Now if these could come without activists having to divert time and resources away from those present-day solutions (that is to say, of legislator’s own volition), then that’s even more positive. As long as the fight doesn’t end here - and I don’t have reason to believe that it has or will - then an apology is a positive benefit along the way.
Garlin, I voted no. I think states should apologize but the fact is that none of the slave trade could have been supported without the active support of the federal government. I think there should still be some remedy for descendants of slaves and I think states taking the lead on this issue will allow the federal government to sit on their hands and deem this issue as “state’s rights.”
Leaving this issue to be handled by the states is what allowed such horrific crimes to be carried out for so long. And it wasn’t until the federal government got involved that we saw any real change anyway!
Stay up fam,
I think it’s a step in the right direction. I have respect for VA, and MD lawmakers for issuing an official apology. It’s so interesting how the feds won’t go near it. The irony is that a nation founded on equality doesn’t want to admit the fundamental injustice that this country was build on, being the institution of slavery.