More Apologies
The age of the apology continues. This week the Senate issued an apology for not passing anti-lynching legislation decades ago. Senator George Allen (R-VA) is one of the original sponsors of the resolution which had 8 co-sponsors.
African-American lynching is another dark chapter in our history. No question the activity was wrong. But why should this generation apologize for something the previous generation did? More over, why should the entire Senate apologize for this? Let the record show it was the democrats, specifically the Dixiecrats who opposed this legislation along with antisegregation laws. They were the ones who filibustered to prevent segregation from being declared illegal. Why should a Republican dominated Senate have to apologize for the actions of the minority party? Shouldn't Howard Dean be apologizing for the past actions of his party? My concern is the average uninformed American is going view this as a Republican Senate apologizing for lynching blacks.
But some people think this resolution doesn't go far enough. Representative John Lewis (D-GA) says, "The U.S. government needs to apologize for the whole system of slavery. Lynching was just a part of it." If anyone should apologize for slavery, it's the British government. Slavery was instituted in the south by the British long before we gained independence. By the time we gained independence, it was woven into our society to the point southern states felt they could not survive without it. In fact they threatened to pull out of the union every step of the way if anyone threatened to take away their slaves. So blame the British for infecting us with the cancer of slavery. While struggling for independence and later stability, the early years of the union were not the time for the political fight to end slavery. It took us almost 90 years, a civil war, and 620,000 dead, but eventually America did the right thing. The price has been paid. Does this apology by the Senate bring any kind of closure to anyone? Or is it merely political grandstanding?
African-American lynching is another dark chapter in our history. No question the activity was wrong. But why should this generation apologize for something the previous generation did? More over, why should the entire Senate apologize for this? Let the record show it was the democrats, specifically the Dixiecrats who opposed this legislation along with antisegregation laws. They were the ones who filibustered to prevent segregation from being declared illegal. Why should a Republican dominated Senate have to apologize for the actions of the minority party? Shouldn't Howard Dean be apologizing for the past actions of his party? My concern is the average uninformed American is going view this as a Republican Senate apologizing for lynching blacks.
But some people think this resolution doesn't go far enough. Representative John Lewis (D-GA) says, "The U.S. government needs to apologize for the whole system of slavery. Lynching was just a part of it." If anyone should apologize for slavery, it's the British government. Slavery was instituted in the south by the British long before we gained independence. By the time we gained independence, it was woven into our society to the point southern states felt they could not survive without it. In fact they threatened to pull out of the union every step of the way if anyone threatened to take away their slaves. So blame the British for infecting us with the cancer of slavery. While struggling for independence and later stability, the early years of the union were not the time for the political fight to end slavery. It took us almost 90 years, a civil war, and 620,000 dead, but eventually America did the right thing. The price has been paid. Does this apology by the Senate bring any kind of closure to anyone? Or is it merely political grandstanding?
posted by Mike at 12:13 PM
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