Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiUS House Apologizes To Black Americans For Slavery and Jim Crow
WASHINGTON - The House 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.
Five states have issued apologies for slavery, but past proposals in Congress have stalled, partly over concerns that an apology would lead to demands for reparations - payment for damages.
The Cohen resolution does not mention reparations. It does commit the House to rectifying "the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow."
It says that Africans forced into slavery "were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage" and that black Americans today continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow laws that fostered discrimination and segregation.
The House "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."
"Slavery and Jim Crow are stains upon what is the greatest nation on the face of the earth," Cohen said. Part of forming a more perfect union, he said, "is such a resolution as we have before us today where we face up to our mistakes and apologize as anyone should apologize for things that were done in the past that were wrong."
Cohen became the first white to represent the 60 percent black district in Memphis in more than three decades when he captured a 2006 primary where a dozen black candidates split the vote. He has sought to reach out to his black constituents, and early in his term showed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus until learning that was against caucus rules.
Another of his first acts as a freshman congressman in early 2007 was to introduce the slavery apology resolution. His office said that the House resolution was brought to the floor only after learning that the Senate would be unable to join in a joint resolution.
More than a dozen of the 42 Congressional Black Caucus members in the House were original co-sponsors of the measure. The caucus has not endorsed either Cohen or his chief rival, attorney Nikki Tinker, in the Memphis primary, although Cohen is backed by several senior members, including Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. Tinker is the former campaign manager of Harold Ford, Jr., who held Cohen's seat until he stepped down in an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 2006.
© 2008 Associated Press
7 Comments so far
Show AllJust as I stated. The majority of people who are pushing for reparations don't believe in everybody getting a check. The money would go towards black communities, not towards individuals. The money would be spent on building or rebuilding homes, schools, hospitals, businesses, etc.
For example, Sean Combs and Oprah Winfrey wouldn't be getting checks, but South Central LA and The Hill District would.
As for how much money, I'm not exactly sure. I think the figure that I've heard bandied about is in the trillions.
iwarrior July 30th, 2008 10:30 pm
How do you figure out who would recieve restitution? It seems to me that it would be almost impossible to figure out who qualified and who didn't.
How would you do it?
Apologies, shmapologies. That 'aint gonna cut it. It's not just slavery and Jim Crow either. What about urban renewal? What about the funneling of drugs into the black community?
Reparations, on the other hand would actually mean something. I don't think we should just give out money to people. No, what we need to do, is what we need to do with all impoverished communities, and that's rebuild and renovate. I'm not talking urban renewal per se, because we all know what that wrought. It need to be done for the people who actually live in those communities. Remodel homes and businesses and landmarks. Tear down the crack houses. Make these neighborhoods liveable.
Then of course, universal free health care/education and living wages for everyone. A New, New Deal where no one is left out. Complete debt cancellation also.
The money's there. Don't tell me it isn't. After all, we find plenty of cash for abominable military adventures.
To me it's just the right thing to do. A restitution needs to be made in order for us to move forward.
the question now is how much should be paid
period
how much would you accept to live through 300 years of slavery, lynching, rape, forced labor, ghettos, and the rest of it
how much would be required to make that right
muchos dineros amigo
then next we move on to the first nation apology
how much is that worth - stealing a whole continent and then conducting a ruthless genocide for three hundred years
then we can start with the foreign policy apologies too numerous to litanize here
how much does the us owe the japanese for dropping two atomic bombs on them and the subsequent military occupation, now in its 63rd year
what's that worth
how much does dow chemical and monsanto et al owe for polluting the entire planet with plastics
what would it cost to make that right
what would it cost to make it right in iraq and afghanistan
how about chile, argentina, the phillipines, guatemala, nicaraugua.....
the us may not be proud of its heritage but that is a lot of shit to be coming out of one asshole
maybe we should offer payment in kind, like maybe we should rendition david reckefeller to kyrgyzstan and drop him in boiling oil
let's put the entire rothschild family in the tombs in new york city for one month and say we lost their paperwork
let's reflect before we decide what should happen to the duponts and the harrimans
at least that would show some sincerity and good faith is behind the apololgies
How would Congress propose to rectify "the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow."?
Tax-exempt status?
Waiver from requirements to participate in military exercises, even in the event of a draft?
Cash payments to survivors and first generation offspring?
I'm struggling to find a policy instrument that would gain traction in the US. Even the most basic 'remedy', suffrage, has been curtailed as recently as 2004.
While I agree and advocate for certain forms of reparations, I seriously doubt Americans are willing to compensate African-Americans with their tax dollars. I doubt many would be willing to stand in a check-out line in their local grocery store while a "Cadillac-driving welfare queen" displays here tax-exempt status card to reduce her costs. I fear most Americans would not want to pay into a tax system that provides services to potentially 15 million people, who themselves do not contribute to the cost of those services. I'm convinced a significant majority of Americans oppose a cash payment.
So it begs the question, how do you rectify a 'misdeed' whose 'lingering consequences' are strongly economic without instituting an economic remedy?
I'm not sure they still want the mule, but the 40 acres?
Anything?
Trip to Disney World?
Or just the apology?
I hear you guys offer a lot of them free room and board and trips to middle east.
Maybe in a hundred years there'll be an apology for that too.
With Australia and Canada leading the way, (both of whom have officially appologized for their treatment of those people who predated their existence on the land)at least the Congress made an effort acknowledge some of the faults of the US past and their own complicity in such wrongs having been committed.
Native Americans and most other people of color are owed similar appologies. We can only hope that such are forthcoming.