For the first time, after Civil Rights Movements, racially motivated assasinations, landmark court rulings, Million Man Marches, and questionable law enforcement, the Federal Government finally apologizes for slavery.
Rep. Steve Cohen (a white rep for a majority black district in Memphis), introduced a resolution on Tuesday that apologized for and acknowledged the "injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow." The resolution also stated, "African-Americans continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow -- long after both systems were formally abolished -- through enormous damage and loss, both tangible and intangible, including the loss of human dignity and liberty, the frustration of careers and professional lives, and the long-term loss of income and opportunity."
I guess this is cool. They apologized for overthrowing the Kingdom of Hawaii, and they apologized to Japanese-Americans who were detained during World War II (approximately half of those detainess were alive at the time of the apology, and they received $20,000). Neither of those apologies took over 100 years to happen, so it feels like we still got put on the back burner. Nevertheless, I'm glad they had the balls to address it, and man up for an apology.
Editors Note: The resolution presented did not address the long standing issue of reparations being given to the descendents of former slaves.
-Ant
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