Va. lawmakers apologize for slavery

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. - Meeting on the grounds of the former Confederate Capitol, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously Saturday to express "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery.

Sponsors of the resolution say they know of no other state that has apologized for slavery, although Missouri lawmakers are considering such a measure.

The resolution does not carry the weight of law but sends an important symbolic message, supporters said.

The resolution passed the House of Delegates 96-0 and cleared the 40-member Senate on a unanimous voice vote. It does not require Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's approval.

The measure also expressed regret for "the exploitation of Native Americans."

The resolution says government-sanctioned slavery "ranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history, and the abolition of slavery was followed by systematic discrimination, enforced segregation, and other insidious institutions and practices toward Americans of African descent that were rooted in racism, racial bias and racial misunderstanding."

[Fandango 1,440]

What a bunch of #######. None of us were around during slavery, nor did anyone on this earth cooperate in the slave trade.

Apologising for summat none of us had a part in s just stupid & an empty gesture....after all, you gonna be one who votes against it?

It's keeping slavery alive as an excuse for more white liberal guilt.

[Fuzzness 2]

What a bunch of #######. None of us were around during slavery, nor did anyone on this earth cooperate in the slave trade.

Apologising for summat none of us had a part in s just stupid & an empty gesture....after all, you gonna be one who votes against it?

It's keeping slavery alive as an excuse for more white liberal guilt.

liberal guilt?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What a bunch of #######. None of us were around during slavery, nor did anyone on this earth cooperate in the slave trade.

Apologising for summat none of us had a part in s just stupid & an empty gesture....after all, you gonna be one who votes against it?

It's keeping slavery alive as an excuse for more white liberal guilt.

Why would you be offended by a symbolic gesture?

[Fandango 1,440]

What a bunch of #######. None of us were around during slavery, nor did anyone on this earth cooperate in the slave trade.

Apologising for summat none of us had a part in s just stupid & an empty gesture....after all, you gonna be one who votes against it?

It's keeping slavery alive as an excuse for more white liberal guilt.

Why would you be offended by a symbolic gesture?

Why does there need to be a sybolic gesture? Why does anyone need to apologise? No one here took any part in slavery...why apol for summat that had nowt to do with you?

[Niels Bohr 72]

I know it may be an empty gesture. However, it's just like how you would carry your family honor and name by carrying their last name. In other words, the State is just expressing its regrets in regards to their past mistakes. This is a matter of peacekeeping. If you keep aggressively attacking small things like that, nobody will have peace.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What a bunch of #######. None of us were around during slavery, nor did anyone on this earth cooperate in the slave trade.

Apologising for summat none of us had a part in s just stupid & an empty gesture....after all, you gonna be one who votes against it?

It's keeping slavery alive as an excuse for more white liberal guilt.

Why would you be offended by a symbolic gesture?

Why does there need to be a sybolic gesture? Why does anyone need to apologise? No one here took any part in slavery...why apol for summat that had nowt to do with you?

For much the same reason that we hold remembrance services for WW2, the Holocaust and 9/11.

Slavery and genocide are part of this country's history, there isn't really getting around that. More specifically, the people who are doing the apologizing are representatives of the government that was responsible for it. The fact that those people weren't alive then is irrelevant - they inherit the legacy, the same as everyone else.

It doesn't seem like much of a hardship to reflect on the past and say "never again". That's really what this is about.

[Fandango 1,440]

What a bunch of #######. None of us were around during slavery, nor did anyone on this earth cooperate in the slave trade.

Apologising for summat none of us had a part in s just stupid & an empty gesture....after all, you gonna be one who votes against it?

It's keeping slavery alive as an excuse for more white liberal guilt.

Why would you be offended by a symbolic gesture?

Why does there need to be a sybolic gesture? Why does anyone need to apologise? No one here took any part in slavery...why apol for summat that had nowt to do with you?

For much the same reason that we hold remembrance services for WW2, the Holocaust and 9/11.

Slavery and genocide are part of this country's history, there isn't really getting around that. More specifically, the people who are doing the apologizing are representatives of the government that was responsible for it. The fact that those people weren't alive then is irrelevant - they inherit the legacy, the same as everyone else.

It doesn't seem like much of a hardship to reflect on the past and say "never again". That's really what this is about.

Having a rememberance is a bit different than a state officially apologizing for something. I'm not against a rememberance at all. But lawmakers should be spending their time attacking the issues which affect us today...not wasting time with making nothing more than an empty gesture - which does nothing but bring the unchangeable past to the forefront & making it be an issue which seems appropriate to apologise for today, when imo no formal apology is needed.

Tax dollars at work, ladies and gents.

Where does it stop? Why not apologise for not allowing women voters in the early 1900s? Where's their apology? And is it really Virgina 2007's position to apologise for anyways? You smack me in the face, yet someone else apologises for it....so is that really a valid apology anyways?

Nothing can be done to make up for what's happened in the past.

The bottom line is every country has a history of atrocities. To dwell on past things serves no purpose but keeping it alive as an issue which further divides this country.

Edited February 25, 2007 by LisaD

[Fuzzness 2]

should the city of salem apologize to pagans in america? should the US apologize for the japanese camps in wwii? should canada apologize to the chinese population in canada? should the US apologize to the cherokee and navajo nations? where does it end?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I got no problems with an apology if it promotes the healing of old historical wounds while costing those who did not participate in the wrongdoing nothing.

[Niels Bohr 72]

You and I have no control over what legislation does. And, the people who are apologizing may not be lawmakers or policy makers. How do we know?

Issues, there will always be issues but will there always be peace? Issues should be fixed within the education system. We can't rely on lawmakers to fix our 'issues'. Sounds like you want to run for office though. If they apologize, there's no hurt in that and it's not a waste of time either.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

What a bunch of #######. None of us were around during slavery, nor did anyone on this earth cooperate in the slave trade.

Apologising for summat none of us had a part in s just stupid & an empty gesture....after all, you gonna be one who votes against it?

It's keeping slavery alive as an excuse for more white liberal guilt.

Why would you be offended by a symbolic gesture?

Why does there need to be a sybolic gesture? Why does anyone need to apologise? No one here took any part in slavery...why apol for summat that had nowt to do with you?

For much the same reason that we hold remembrance services for WW2, the Holocaust and 9/11.

Slavery and genocide are part of this country's history, there isn't really getting around that. More specifically, the people who are doing the apologizing are representatives of the government that was responsible for it. The fact that those people weren't alive then is irrelevant - they inherit the legacy, the same as everyone else.

It doesn't seem like much of a hardship to reflect on the past and say "never again". That's really what this is about.

Exactly. Particularly when variations of slavery still exist in the world today - even (gasp) to where we Americans reap the benefits from.

should the city of salem apologize to pagans in america? should the US apologize for the japanese camps in wwii? should canada apologize to the chinese population in canada? should the US apologize to the cherokee and navajo nations? where does it end?

When being a jackass is no longer institutionalized.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I want an apology from the Italians for the Romans that enslaved my people 2000 years ago.

[pedroh 21]

What a bunch of #######. None of us were around during slavery, nor did anyone on this earth cooperate in the slave trade.

Apologising for summat none of us had a part in s just stupid & an empty gesture....after all, you gonna be one who votes against it?

It's keeping slavery alive as an excuse for more white liberal guilt.

Why would you be offended by a symbolic gesture?

Why does there need to be a sybolic gesture? Why does anyone need to apologise? No one here took any part in slavery...why apol for summat that had nowt to do with you?

For much the same reason that we hold remembrance services for WW2, the Holocaust and 9/11.

Slavery and genocide are part of this country's history, there isn't really getting around that. More specifically, the people who are doing the apologizing are representatives of the government that was responsible for it. The fact that those people weren't alive then is irrelevant - they inherit the legacy, the same as everyone else.

It doesn't seem like much of a hardship to reflect on the past and say "never again". That's really what this is about.

Exactly. Particularly when variations of slavery still exist in the world today - even (gasp) to where we Americans reap the benefits from.

should the city of salem apologize to pagans in america? should the US apologize for the japanese camps in wwii? should canada apologize to the chinese population in canada? should the US apologize to the cherokee and navajo nations? where does it end?

When being a jackass is no longer institutionalized.

besides, there's still people that believe in slavery, if not go to SC, and you will find out, so if it doesn't affect you, it does send a message to stupid people around the country who still believe in such atrocities..

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Why go all the way to SC?

I drove by a colonial built in the 1800s yesterday that has a Confederate Flag flying in front of it. This is New Jersey. The flag is new, they had a regular American flag flying before.

And before some Southerner tells me the flag is about heritage, stuff it. It's about your heritage as a slave-owning people.