From The New York Daily News…
U.S. Senate apologizes for slavery
By Michael Mcauliff
Daily News Washington Bureau
Washington — The U.S. Congress is saying sorry for slavery.
The Senate voted unanimously Thursday for a resolution acknowledging “the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws,” which authorized the segregation that followed the Civil War.
If the House passes a similar measure next week, as expected, it would mark the highest official mea culpa for the hundreds of years of discrimination that had been enshrined by the Constitution and courts.
“Slavery and Jim Crow, and their continuing consequences, are not the historical baggage of one state, one region or one company,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the resolution’s sponsor. “They are an enduring national shame.”
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had both expressed remorse for slavery. And Congress has recognized other injustices, such as the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
“No one pretends that a mere apology — or any words — can right the wrongs of the past,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “But it represents our recognition of that past and our commitment to more fully live up to our nation’s promise.”
The measure does have one caveat. It says it doesn’t imply support for paying reparations.
2 comments:
apology accepted.
100 senators, 99 of whom are white (burris will be gone in 2010 as sure as he's been irrelevant and unwanted since he arrived this year), offering an empty worded apology with no action, no substance and no reform.
yeah we got a mixed race president so everything's fixed now, right?
yup.
keep your apology. i ain't bitter, but i ain't stupid either.
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