Apologize for Slavery? Why?

Rather than apologising for past slavery (and personally I'm not going to to sue the Italians and Irish for subjecting my ancestors to centuries of such atrocities), why not make an effort to stop curent slavery?

www.antislavery.org...

What's more important? People who have been dead for hundreds of years? Or people who are dying today?

......but you replied so you probably the one who need to see a doctor but no i just leave it there....dont you see that all this blogs everything here is making your clear God given vision of the world and everything between look blurly..no i am not a disinfo agent..just a truthseeker...apologies to people who i may have offended...

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
But, hold on people... We installed the government, whatever the government does is a reflection on the people of America. I do not want my elected representatives apologizing for me to the world.

And if the Democrat-controlled government really wanted to apologize for racial injustice, they'd force Senator Robert "White Nigger" Bird to resign for his involvement with the Ku Klux Klan.

Oh, but I guess Senator Bird isn't a scab on his political party.

— Doc Velocity

Wasn't there an episode on the Simpsons where Homer received money for slavery after discovering he was of African descent? I can only imagine how many people would seriously take that puppy to the courts for years on end saying it applied to them as well. As can be seen in this thread, pretty much everyone deserves an apology for something they, or their ancestors, endured.

Apology or not, this is an issue that is not going to go away, just like genocide, wars, and multiple other issues. Slavery was a wrong choice some people in history made, and you can count on us humans to continue making bad choices because we don't always realize it was wrong until after it's happened... the human species is far from perfect. The hope is that we will learn from our mistakes and not repeat them.

Actually, if you want to go back even more... the growing belief seems to be that of "Intervention Theory" suggesting humans were genetically created (mix between Hominid and Annunaki) where all humans were created for the purpose of being slaves, and then were abandoned by the Annunaki when they left us on this rock. So, with that in mind, we are ALL owned one big # apology.

Where are them thar pesky Annunaki's?? *waves fist in the air* Just wait till Nibiru comes back around!!



(edit to fix sentence)

[edit on 20-6-2009 by misfitoy]

reply to post by Doc Velocity


I dont mind apologizing if it eases some of the feeling of hurt they have. I dont understand why they feel that way but I cant say they dont really feel that way, so might as well try to ease their pain.

So if there is anybody on here that was a slave or had a slave ancestor i am trully sorry that anyone had to go through that.

Now having said that when did the Republican party get a racial scab. That sounds like something you get after a night of naked fun with a KKK member.

Abraham Lincoln was a Republican for God's sake.

So now Republicans are racist because most of us dont like Affirmative Action or Welfare?

[edit on 20-6-2009 by grapesofraft]

Being the only human alive that is over 300 years old, I would like to submit my formal apology.
What can I say?

My bad.

I'm just glad there is no more slaver. . . huh? You mean to tell me that there is still racial hatred in Africa? That different tribes are killing, mutilating, enslaving each other?

Well, at least here in America we don't have. . . huh?. . . You're kidding, right? There is still class warfare going on in this country? Isn't that like slavery? I mean one class of elitists ruling over another? They certainly couldn't be doing that!
Didn't some guys a while back write something about all men created equal?
Ohhhh, equal, ONLY if you went to the right schools and gave to the right charities and eat at only the right places. . . well those damn republica. . . . what do you mean it's not the republicans? Who else. . .. the DEMACRATS? Well the evil republicans got trounced during the civil rights move. . . . oh you have GOT to be kidding me? The democrats, AGAIN?
Well at least they are apologizing and to think it only took them 150 years. Since I'm 300, I should apologize as well but I did it 150 years ago. I wanted to clear the air back then, less tension in the room, sort of thing...

So now where are the apologies for the indians, irish, scottish, polish, greek, hawaiians, catholics, jews, mormons, innuits, handicapped, over-weight, gays, people who stutter, lefties, the people who drive straight with turn signals on, any woman who spent 5 minutes alone with Bill Clinton, anyone who thinks Dane Cook is funny, and the guy who invented the cheese log.

North Korea is going to nuke Hawaii, Iran is going to i mplode, we have a war in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan, unemployment is shooting through the roof, our economy is in the tank, the government is controlling everything, and. . . and the ONLY FRACKIN' THING TO COME OUT OF OUR REPRESENTATIVES IS AN APOLOGY FOR SLAVERY?

-sigh-

-I need a drink-

[edit on 20-6-2009 by mikerussellus]

reply to post by misfitoy


I want reparations from the Aliens that keep waking me and probing me. I will take a spaceship with laser cannons capable of destroying whole planets at a time, a couple of hot, horny alien babes, and a few hundred bottles of Jack Daniels and I will call it even.

Originally posted by misfitoy
Wasn't there an episode on the Simpsons where Homer received money for slavery after discovering he was of African descent?

Actually it was Peter on Family Guy, he found out Loius' father had owned his ancestor.

reply to post by exile1981


Ahh, ok... couldn't remember which show, lol.
Thanks for the correction!

See ~ didn't I just say humans will continue to make mistakes?
I iz a perfeckt xample.




[edit on 20-6-2009 by misfitoy]

I know I'm going to get slammed for this but here is my 2 cents worth.


1) The apology is worth about 1million dollars, which is probally what they wasted on salary to debate this.

2) I think we should give anyone who is decended from a slave reparations. If you can prove your a slave descendant you can stay here and be happy your in the US or you can take a payment for the suffering of being here.

If you take the cash we'll give you $100,000 and a boat ride back to the country of your ancestors. You of course have to give up your US citizenship, all assets in this country you own (you can sell them and keep the $$) and of course you can't come back to visit because if you hate it here so much that you want to leave then your likely a danger to national security.

You know... I re-read the article and, it seems to me, that this apology is really kind of a backhanded move. The article states that this apology originated from the Senate, following one from the House of Representatives just last year. The apologies were essentially the same, except that this new apology had a caveat to it. That it, in no way, is issued with the intent or effect to further reparations/restitution cases.

The impression I get is, that it seems as though the House offered the apology last year - and now that Barak Obama is in office, some people may be frightened that he or someone in his administration (or a powerful black leader may pressure him) will use the apology issued by the House as a way to push the reparations issue. This apology was issued as a preemptive move to squelch any use of apology as leverage for reparations. The House is currently looking into revising it's own apology to conform to the Senate version.

Basically, it's a "The US government is truly very sorry for enabling the spiritual breaking and harsh bondage your ancestors endured at our hands, but don't expect to see that reparation money anytime soon." statement.

So anyone thinking this is a heartfelt and genuine apology out of the bottom of their hearts... you're wrong. I'm sure it was genuine, but there are strings attached. There's an ulterior motive to it. Anyone thinking this is going to mean diddly squat to the furtherance of the reparations struggle, is probably misinterpreting the statement.

In this light, it's kind of a slap in the face... because the taint of ulterior motive corrodes the sincerity of the apology. Though I could be way off on this. After all, the Senate approved the statement unanimously - meaning several black members of the Senate approved the statement. Either they're all shameless Uncle Toms, or there was real sincerity behind it. Otherwise, I think someone would have spoke up out of a sense of moral obligation - or would have used it as a show act to further their standing among black voters in their district.

So Sorry for the inconveinience that may have occured during your invited,intentional ,and kidnapped stay with us here in the south.

oh, and thank you for working my cottonfields.


(the above is a sarcastic reply)

( I am from the north, my family never owned slaves)

(we r P.A. dutch)

we got strong backs and weak minds
good for picking potatoes.

Give me a break. At some point in history someone was a slave. That's the way it goes. The Christians were enslaved by the Romans - So where's MY money and my apology???

We live in a country where a black man is the president, this is a wonderful thing and says a lot about our nation. Therefore I don't want to hear anyone whining about discrimination anymore. No more special favors or freebies because of race. ALL races should be treated equally, no more giving the job to a certain skin color because you have to reach your quota. No more apologies...

i think we should apogive for what we did to them. we had them as slaves for crying out lloud!!

reply to post by wyleecoyote

We live in a country where a black man is the president, this is a wonderful thing and says a lot about our nation. Therefore I don't want to hear anyone whining about discrimination anymore.

/facepalm


Well if that's the case, then let's just promote all the different minorities to run for President. Each subsequent term we'll have elections for Asians, Women, Latinos, Native Americans, Jews, Arabs, Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, Atheists.... you know, get every single minority into the White House for a bit. Do it all back to back so we can get it over with as quickly as possible and usher in this new era of peace and love and friendship where racism and discrimination are only memories and we are all brothers and sisters in love, peace, and equality. We can stack some of them up... like an Atheist Latino Woman. How's that sound?

Occupying the office of the President is not, in any way, an indication of the eradication of bigotry and hatred.

(And I'm sure quite a few of you cringed at the initial idea of an "Atheist Latino Woman" - despite the fact that nothing is said about the qualifications or positions of such a person. Where did that cringe come from?)

[edit on 20-6-2009 by Lasheic]

Slavery was horrible. It is and will forever be a blight on the USA, same as Germany will always carry a wretched stain for all the world to see. But...

The government issuing a formal apology for slavery upon Obama taking office- very convenient.

The fact that the government is focusing on history (and long overdue, but certainly history) when the country is flailing, when people are hitting extremely hard times, when jobs are scarce and inflation is taking huge chunks out of people's wallets, I can't help but be very saddened and discouraged about our future standing as a country. Right now we should be putting all our effort into fixing our problems and crawling out of sinkholes.

If the people of our govt. body want to right a wrong that's detrimental, they should spend energy working on the trillions in debt- and then deal with what is likely their guilt over what their ancestors likely did.

Originally posted by Darkblade71
I think it was the right thing to do, politically motivated or not. The US gov. finally put forward a formal appology for slavery. Good for them!
Now they need to apologize for what they did to native americans as well.

It might just seem like useless words to some, but really, it is the right thing to do, and that makes it worth doing IMO.

Finally? How many times does the US need to [unecessarily] apologize for this?

[edit] Apologies
On February 24, 2007, the Virginia General Assembly passed House Joint Resolution Number 728 acknowledging "with profound regret the involuntary servitude of Africans and the exploitation of Native Americans, and call for reconciliation among all Virginians."[85] With the passing of this resolution, Virginia became the first state to acknowledge through the state's governing body their state's negative involvement in slavery. The passing of this resolution came on the heels of the 400th anniversary celebration of the city of Jamestown, Virginia, which was one of the first slave ports of the American colonies.

On July 30, 2008, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for American slavery and subsequent discriminatory laws.[86]
en.wikipedia.org...

I find this absolutely ridiculous....for all the reasons already mentioned.

reply to post by greeneyedleo


Your first example is a state apology. Virginia does not, nor does any state individually, speak for the Federal Government as an institution. The second example, from 2008, I mentioned above. This new apology may have been prompted as a way to provoke changes in the apology given by the House last year so that they cannot be used for leverage in obtaining reparations.

... according to the article anyhow.

Would be humorous to see Barak Obama offer a third apology for the United States Government, from the executive branch. The juxtaposition of a black man offering his apologies to the descendants of slaves on behalf of the executive branch for the actions of the US Government would be ... amusing, and perhaps even somewhat powerful and egocentric.

Senate Backs Apology for Slavery

It's a little late for that isn't it?

If they were going to do that...they should have did it over a LONG ass time ago...you know...after they were freed!

reply to post by octotom

I support the proclamation, it is long overdue, but barring its use from lawsuits is a great idea. All those would do is tear open some wounds that probably would cause the next civil war. There are far more of us mixed bloods in this country than you would think or probably even be able to estimate, if you are one of the millions of mixed Indian-whites you probably also have black blood if your roots are in the west or south. Indians were involved in slavery with the whites, and intermarried with freedmen and runaway slaves. Having even 15 or 20 percent of the population qualify for a class action suit or settlement would be disastrous even for a strong economy, let alone now; I'd bet that at least 50 percent of the country actually may qualify depending on what ethnicities are excluded since European slaves were imported as labor.

Then comes the inevitable scale to compare blood quantums to gauge how destructive slavery was to each group and the first to go will be those who "pass for white" since they "have access" to economic opportunities "blacks" do not. Next will be those of generations of biracial ancestry, especially the descendants of pre- and post-Civil War era quadroons and octoroons who had more economic opportunities than slaves. Then the descendants of "house slaves" who were perceived as having more opportunities than field workers.

In all honesty, having spent time around working and lower class white, black and mixed neighborhoods the worst thing you could do for any of them is to pour free money into them because it's going to get smoked, shot up or drunk and that leads to BIG problems when money runs out. People also get "drunk" on spending, I've seen that with friends who have won small settlements and wound up in severe debt from binge spending.
I just hope this proclamation is not a case of putting a bandaid on an amputation which it looks to be.

reply to post by Lasheic

That scenario would not play out, nonwhites who achieve high positions in this country do so by acting "white." We could point out all of the black mayors and police chiefs who do not but that wouldn't work because those towns generally are hellholes. Newark, anyone? I'd rather vacation in Mogadishu than ever set foot there again.