Jul 29 2008
Why Should I Apologize for Slavery?
Let’s be clear, I think the practice of slavery is wrong. The thing I’m a bit miffed over is that today the House passed a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for the practice of slavery (over a hundred years ago) and the Jim Crow laws (admittedly more recent). Both things completely suck but I didn’t do it. I’m fine with the bit of the resolution that pledges to stop human rights violations from now on. Yay equality and freedom! And it doesn’t say anything about reparations, but that is what a lot of people want the next step to be. Specifically, a payment to the descendants of slaves, likened to the reparations given to those Japanese-Americans held in detention camps during WWII. Hmm…ok but the difference there is that the payments from WWII were paid to people who had actually suffered.
I really, really don’t get why tax payer money (i.e. MY money) should be given to people whose great great great relatives MIGHT have been brought to America against their will as slaves. So many problems with this I hardly know where to begin. Hmm..well first, most of my family were sharecroppers and some were in the north and none (that I know about) ever owned slaves. Therefore, taking MY money and giving it away would piss me off. Next, slave owners didn’t really keep track of what child belonged to what parent etc. Heck, most slaves didn’t have a last name until after the war when many of them took the last name of either their former owners or one of their liberators. So, it would be incredibly difficult to say who actually had slaves as ancestors and what about people who had a lot of slaves as ancestors, should they get more money? If so, how are you going to prove who should get what? Of course that all supposes that the people who did NOT suffer the indignity of slavery should benefit from the pain and suffering of those who came before them.
My next problem ~ Have you looked at the quality of life that would be had by those same descendents had their ancestors been left in their home country? Look, if you will, at the infant mortality rates, average life expectancy, economy, governments, and general living conditions of Africa. Where would you rather live? I am NOT saying that bringing slaves to America was good for the slaves. It was wrong and their quality of life was worse. Nothing, at all, ever is going to excuse that period of enslavement. BUT, honestly, it worked out pretty good for their descendents. While America is all kinds of screwed up in various respects it is still one of the best places to live on the planet. Anyone want to argue that point with me?
So…to recap. I think an apology to African-Americans alive today is stupid. Nothing was done to them. Additionally, it isn’t our place to apologize because no one alive today did anything wrong (in respect to slavery, Jim Crow laws is a different story). I would be like my grandson coming home and apologizing because my husband cheated on me. Would it change what my husband did? No. Is it my grandsons responsibility to apologize for his idiot grandfather? No. Same difference.
The article that set me off can be found here. Let me have it :) Do you think I’m totally wrong? Am I just not getting it? Or is our collective apologetic need beginning to get a bit overwhelming?
People also forget that any Irish were slaves as well, not to mention all the Chinese who lived and died building the railroads. Slavery is wrong and it’s a shame it happened but no one today deserves any kind of compensation for it. On a related personal note, I qualify for money from the government for the amount of Native American blood in me but I refuse to do anything about it because what did I do to deserve it?
I’m still waiting for the Egyptian government to apologize for enslaving my people.
Every culture at one time in history were slaves to another so lets all just say we are sorry and get on with living in the present .
I agree that we should not have to apologize for anything in the distant past. My parents came from Italy in 1920 and our family had nothing to do with slavery. We are all trying to be politcally correct by pandering to minorities. Lets not forget that minorities built this country and when they came here they also were not treated well. But they and their ancestors pulled up their bootstraps and made the best with what they had and became an important part of our society. This may be harsh but it’s reality. Black Americans need to assimilate into society like all the others did. They have better ooportunities today then they ever had. Go out and make the best of it. Don’t wait for apologies and handouts, go forth and prove yourselves and make your families proud. Get your children educated. Have them learn well their history and the history of this great country. You will find it is a parallel world. In case Black Americans don’t know it. It was your own people in Africa who started the slave trade. They took conquered villagers and searched out the white man to sell them the stong and able to benefit themselves. So the Africans are just as much to blame for slavery as the Europeans. I don’t see apologies coming forth from them. You need to know the truth and stop blaming whitey for ALL your problems.
Is Bill talking about the Irish immigrants that were taken off ships, put in a Union army uniform, and forced to serve–and if they lived they could stay? Wow, Bird–you have a pot going on here…:)
Karen
Well…”her blonde-ness” here was truly asking a real question about Bill’s comment–I sincerely did not mean to send you “a googling”–I will be quiet and go get us some snacks…I’m a thinkin’ this is going to be a barn burner!
Karen
While I agree with the main points. I have to say suffering is a relative experience. You can’t determine if or how people have suffered from slavery. The effects of slavery are more than just forced labor.
You strip away people from their land, strip away their way of life, language, and make them to learn a new language, and a new faith. You break up their family structure, removing children from parents, and not allowing slaves to marry. The list of atrocities goes on that effect the fabric of the African American mindset or psyche. This mindset is passed down through generations.
How long would it take for you not to suffer from the death of your mother, father, sister, brother, or a close friend? Imagine you had no support in dealing with the pain of that lost or worst is was clear that no one cared about your pain. Imagine your view of the world. In order to survive you would adapt to a world that did not care about you. Often your view becomes the basis for how the next generation views the world, passing on the psychological effects.
This is how African Americans still suffer from slavery and most don’t realize it. They don’t know how the institution of slavery has impacted their thinking.
Once last point, the government is apologizing for slavery not you. You are not your government. True government seeks to represent the voice of the people. No one is asking to apologize personally.
But the reason you should apologize for slavery, its the nice thing to do. You know when a friend has a something bad happen to them. It wasn’t your fault but you say sorry anyway. Unless you don’t have any black friends (just a joke, I promise)?
One,
DLUX: THE LIGHT
The Spoken Word Hip Hop Poet
www.dluxthelight.com
Check my new blog about the good in hip hop!
hiphopmotivates.today.com
Way To Go!!! Finally somebody got it right. I too am of Irish Descent, however my ancestors ended up in the South. Never owned slaves but worked right along side of them in the cotton fields. Treated no better no worse. The ONLY true people who are deserving of ANY appology is the Native Americans, Both races free blacks and white STOLE Their WHOLE Land and Treated them far worse than Any Slave had to endure. After years of research, I have found that most, not all, stories of how slaves were treated have been highly inflated. Set aside the human aspect, If a slave was purchased for considerable amount of cash you could not expect a good return on your investment if thye were treated harshly day and night their useful time in the fields would be greatly diminished. On the other side they were given a place to live, clothing, food, and medical care. The Irish in New England were cruely beaten, starved barely employed and then as jobs nobody else wanted. They were not given any thing but worked just as hard as slaves they may as well have been.
It makes NO sense what so ever to Appologize or offer OUR Money to “Compensate” a race of people for something that History has shown happened in their own country as well. We CANNOT Change History. It Happened, It’s Done, Get over IT.
All we can do is to make sure that it Never Happens again to ANY Country.
I took a Black History class in college where I first learned that Irish were slaves for a short time…being Irish, I should have known that…anyway..
I have issue with the apology. As a country, I think we are sorry it happened. End of it.
I don’t think we should be paying anyone for it. As most have pointed out, it’s impossible to track who was actually descended from slaves, and then that must include ALL races that were enslaved.
I also don’t think it’s a good financial move for a country billions in deficit! Yikes!
~Kelly
http://30somethingandsearching.today.com/
@eclecticbird “misfortune of the parents can impact the lives of the children” Misfortune is a little light of a word to use to describe slavery don’t cha think.
How long does it take for a state of mind to change? How long does it take for fear to leave ones’ mindset? You have nearly 400 hundred years of slavery and what about 100 years freedom. You can say the last 60-70 years have been free of persecution (without Jim Crow laws). So in 30-40 years you expect all the effects slavery to be gone?
I just want to make something clear. I’m not for or against reparations. I do appreciate the apology because it recognizes an injustice was done. Really, no amount of money will make me forget about the history of this nation and treat like water under the bridge.
I can understand not wanting to pay for slavery, but why not apologize? Why not apologize for the ideas that slavery created that are still around today? Many people of all racist still believe black is inferior, even black themselves. Many still have an unwarranted fear of black people on a emotional level.
I think you have to understand that the effects of slavery aren’t isolated and the effects are still around today. It wasn’t like in 1867 all were free and suddenly everything is ok.
You saying five generations is too long to claim suffering for current generations is like me saying I know you just someone you truly care about but get over it now. This is not for you to determine and slightly insulting. You don’t know what people are dealing with. While its true everyone has access to the same opportunities, everyone doesn’t have the means (money, knowledge) for those opportunities. This doesn’t mean blacks are still victims however, but we all still suffer from the effects of slavery.
Just a question cause I haven’t researched this, were the Irish and any other racist of people kidnapped from their country of origin and made slaves in the U.S.? Cause it one thing to come here on you own free will and be mistreated. Its a whole different ball game to be kidnapped.
One,
DLUX: THE LIGHT
The Spoken Word Hip Hop Poet
www.dluxthelight.com
Check my new blog about the good in hip hop!
hiphopmotivates.today.com