WASHINGTON, July 29, 2008
House Issues Formal Apology For Slavery
Unprecedented Resolution Apologizes For Slavery, Jim Crow
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Interactive
110th Congress
The balance of power shifts and new leadership takes control as the latest session convenes.
"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."
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"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."Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past.
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich, Chairwoman of the Congressional Black CaucusCohen 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.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 285 CommentsI don''t type well when I''m pi$$ed. I am so sick of the black community''s neediness. Stop blaming something that happened in the past!
There is no longer anyone alive that was a slave in America or owned a slave in America.
The people that should apologize are dead, and the people that they should apologize to are dead.
Buncha cry baby wanna be slaves.
Is this the best the House can do?
There is no longer anyone alive that was a slave in America or owned a slave in America.
The people that should apologize are dead, and the people that they should apologize to are dead.
Posted by DemWatcher at 09:52 PM : Jul 29, 2008
It absolutely amazes me how uneducated the average Republican is. Now I read the statement and it clearly say the House apologized for Slavery, which the government of this nation allowed and never gave an apology for when they SHOULD HAVE. It also said CLEARLY that the apology was for Jim Crowe and the "Equal but Different" garbage used to keep blacks in their "Place" during the 60''s. Now how anyone could read this and NOT understand it is beyond me. What grade did you drop out of school at?? 6th?
Posted by Hedonist3 at 09:49 PM : Jul 29, 2008
IF we do not learn for the evil and past mistakes, how do we learn? How do we stop the ugliness in the future if someone does NOT go on the record saying that these people who did this horrible stuff were the worse creatures that ever walked the planet? NO I think it was a great thing for Congress to do.. next? Ban the VERY Racist Confederate Flag!!
Posted by martha44 at 09:50 PM****************What an incredibly ignorant thing to say. The blacks I know have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Are you responsibility for the failings of people of your own race? If you are white, do you take responsibility for all the things whites have screwed up (huge budget deficit, Katrina, Iraq War, etc.)?
Posted by martha44 at 09:50 PM : Jul 29, 2008
Man I grew up in the South where, if you were black, you could be awoke in the middle of the night by Hooded Thugs, drug out and Lynched. Then at a mock trial the killers would be released. Now how can ANYONE say that Blacks were better off in 1965 is beyond me. I mean how do you get worse off than DEATH? People like you shame me and every American who stood up against the scum that ran the entire south during that period!!
whenever the blacks wake up
(with ''da ''hos at their side),
they may see that we have ALL become
slaves.
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Posted by deacon20081
*** Straight!!! Mail King George II a bill. He will push it thru Congress, and if you will kick enough under the table, probably get it thru before he leaves office. (If he leaves office) But he could declare martial law and take all land etc: he wants. Then the white, black and all other land owners will feel like you do.
We just don''t squeak as loudly as the blacks. "Boo-hoo, poor me." Bullcarp! (Intentionally misspelled.) We would rather take the white man''s money at the casinos.
In the early 1970''s, my tribe and its splinter groups were paid $20.1 million for lands taken -- we were paid at $.02 per acre.
The House does NOT speak for me. I have no apologies to give. Some people, evidently, just need to be "stroked".
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Oh. THAT''S why. HE WANTS TO HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF NOT LOSING THE NEXT ELECTION.
After seeing the votes for Obama, he doesn''t have a chance. HE''LL BE A VICTIM OF RACIST BLACK VOTERS.
Posted by Hedonist3 at 10:08 PM+ Some of you posters really don''t get it. That''s the real reason why there will never be racial harmony. If I break out a Black Power salute or say I''m a Black Panther, you''ll call me a black nationalist and a racist. That flag was/is the symbol of racial oppression for over 100 years. Many whites fly it in your face so you can know their true feelings about you. I really see that you people don''t and never will get it. Sad!
I propose that a special 10% income surtax be imposed on all Democrats for the purpose of reparations.
Posted by Hedonist3 at 10:18 PM : Jul 29, 2008
And boy do we LOVE the casinos. The bigger the better and Ihope the Natives all get richer than sh*t.
Next, I hope they''ll apologize to people like MY ANCESTORS, who suffered from WHITE-ON-WHITE OPPRESSION during the Industrial Revolution.
My ancestors were immigrant factory workers in the north. They never owned slaves. They WERE slaves. Wealthy white factory wrokers brought them to this country on promises of a "better life," but they quickly discovered that they weren''t being paid enough to afford their own housing.
White workers had to live in the attic of the factory, called a "loft." As the rich factory owners kept crowding in more and more workers and their families, diseases spread in the overcrowded, unsanitary conditions.
ENTIRE FAMILIES died, children and the adults. THEY HAVE NO DESCENDANTS TODAY because their family line went EXTINCT.
WHO COLLECTS THE REPARATIONS WHEN THE OPPRESSION WAS SO SEVERE THAT THERE *ARE NO DESCENDANTS TO PAY*???
The only reason I''m here to write this today is, my ancestors fled from the factory and went into farming. They escaped from the crowded city and the disease-ridden factory. They survived, and their descendants live today. I''m one of them.
Yes, and apolgy would be nice. Reparations from the descendants of the wealthy factory owners would be BETTER!
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Posted by mike18881
I have a "half breed" grandson. Live in a small town in mid-america. I get shuned by some small minded folks in town. I would be and am insulted by any apologies or half lies of not seeing me when they pass me. (they know who I am when their a/c breaks on a 102 degree day) I say you are right and this half baked scheme to woo votes is transparent as can be.
Posted by Hedonist3 at 10:18 PM + Typical ignorant comment. Check the welfare rolls and see who tops the list (Hint: not blacks). Why aren''t you upset about the government handing out billions to corporations (owned overwhelmingly by whites)who don''t need the money and are exploiting jailhouse labor to make money hand over fist. Typical ignorant posts. At least the natives got some money for their land. When the land was promised to all, blacks were left out of the deal. Go back to the 5th grade and make sure you read an unbiased history book.
These were not choices like picking between combos 1 or 2
on the drive-thru menu at ***-in-the-Box.
These were peoples'' lives.
Apology, schmology. BLEH.
Read the National Archives, where the freed slaves were given a choice of either staying in this country and being monetarily compensated or free passage back to Africa. Where do you think the country Liberia came from?
We have bent over backwards for the blacks since the 60''s ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
WHO WILL THEY PAY FOR OPPRESSION SO SEVERE THAT THERE ARE NO DESCENDANTS TO PAY??? The whole family went extinct - children died first, then the adults.
HAS ANYONE EVEN APOLOGIZED TO THE WHITE FACTORY WORKERS WHO SUFFERED FROM UNSAFE, UNSANITARY WORKING CONDITIONS IN THE FACTORIES AND SWEATSHOPS before the unions put a stop to it???
I''m sick and tired of turning on CNN and the only thing on is "Black in America". Hell I''m white and if it were "White in America" I''d be just as annoyed. That program has too much airtime period.
We have bent over backwards for the blacks since the 60''''s ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
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I agree - we should stop singling out blacks as if they are the ONLY ones who suffered from oppression.
Look at the Chinese who built the railroad. They were tossed away when the work was done.
Look at the whites who died in the lofts of the factories during the Industrial Revolution.
Look at the Hispanics who were working in that meat packing plant in Iowa that just got busted.
EVERY GROUP HAS BEEN A VICTIM OF SYSTEMATIC INJUSTICE. EVERY GROUP HAS SUFFERED AND DIED FROM IT.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Let''s START recognizing that harm that ALL groups have suffered at the hands of the WEALTHY. Including white-on-white injustice!
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.
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THAT''S the real explanation.
We need Ron Paul! He''s the only man who wants to restore the original constitution and bring back the great America I remember.
Apparently slavery is forever.
Now, if they''d like to return to
Africa, they can join the Oprah train.
Oh, bet that is racist.
Of course I''ve never met a black racist.
either way it will be interesting to see who comes out swinging for the payday...my bet is on Rev Al!! he has tax issues, so he needs the money, he can''t be manipsalated!!! lol....jmo....
Posted by arrestbush1
Incorrect. It''s symbolix. The purpose of apologies like these are to show that our country does not ignore our history or pretend it didn''t happen. Too many conutries are in denial about events in their history and these apologies represent the idea that we recognize our wrongs and are determined to not let injustices like these happen again.
To paraphrase Jesse Jackson:
"I''d like to cut the nuts off the House"
"Incorrect. It''''s symbolix. . . ."
Posted by Rafterman1 at 10:40 PM
I believe you meant to say,
"It''s sypholix"
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