We shall overcome
The Associated Press

Overcome?

Featured Topic | Posted 1 year 14 weeks ago

Florida apologies for slavery... should the United States?

Florida's legislature formally apologized Wednesday for the state’s “shameful” history of slavery, joining five other states that have expressed public regret for what Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama recently called America’s “original sin.”

The two-page resolution passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and then the House, bringing at least one lawmaker to tears. Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, called it a “significant step” toward reconciliation.

More than 140 years after the abolition of slavery, and four decades since the Civil Rights Movement culminated with sweeping civil rights legislation, are apologies useful? Do Americans whose ancestors never owned slaves bear any responsibility? Would a national apology for slavery heal lingering wounds? Should Americans consider reparations for slavery?

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Ben likes: Apology for slavery could be divisive

Andrew J. Skerritt/St. Petersburg Times

It's not to say we should forget the past, but an apology for slavery is a major distraction, given the dismal state of affairs -- lost jobs, home foreclosures, struggling minority students. Rather than apologize, we ought to do more about the plight of young African-American males, who seem more prone to crime, joblessness and hopelessness.

While some legislators sound supportive of the slavery apology resolution, it can easily be exploited by those on the fringe. It can be divisive. Already I can hear the arguments: "My ancestors never owned slaves. We didn't benefit from slavery, so we have nothing to apologize for. It's time for black folks to get over it."

They might be right this time. The timing is odd. Here we have a black man getting serious consideration for the White House. If Sen. Barack Obama were to become president, imagine how that might affect the wave of apologies for slavery. His election would mean so much symbolically to black people around the world, yet he has no ancestral link to slavery.

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Joel likes: Tracing slavery's past

Te-Ping Chen/The Nation

While some deride such moves as attempts to slough off responsibility or soothe the consciences of white liberals, James Campbell, who chaired the 2003-2006 Brown University effort to examine the school's ties to the slave trade, sees efforts to re-examine history as a step towards justice, not an end unto itself. "I believe that how we see the past matters," says Campbell, "because how we understand history helps shape the present matrix of political possibility."

To Cohen, who remembers attending segregated sports games in the South as a child, an apology for slavery and its legacy isn't about pointing fingers but coming to terms with a history that for too long has been elided.

"I didn't own slaves. My parents didn't own slaves," says U.S. Rep. Stephen Cohen. "But as a government for a century, we continued to perpetuate the racism that was at the root of slavery in this country," he says.

After a century of segregation and racial violence, he says, "This is an attempt to start the healing." 

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