House Apologizes For Slavery and Jim Crow
The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.
“Today represents a milestone in our nation’s efforts to remedy the ills of our past,” said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.
Slavery and Jim Crow (perpetrated by Democrats) are shameful parts of our history, but an apology by the House is nothing more than pandering. Whatever.
I hope they all feel better. Can we all just get along, now?
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 29, 2008 at 2253 hrsDon’t forget the democrats also fought against the civil rights act as well.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 29, 2008 at 2332 hrs
So, will anything change tomorrow?Apparently the Civil War, the 14th Amendment, and the Civil Rights Act all didn’t go far enough. Who would’ve thought that just by saying “sorry” that we could put the long-standing racial tensions behind us?
Let me be the first: I’m sorry for using the word “thug.” See how easy that was? Now I can’t be called a racist, because I said “sorry.”
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 29, 2008 at 2359 hrsSince we all know that democrats cannot apologize for anything without throwing money at it, what will the next step be?
A big fat tax increase in order to make reparations (sp?)
Posted by Michael J. Cheaney on July 30, 2008 at 0510 hrsThe dems just keep fanning the flames so they can continue the notion that “whitie” is out to get you - so you better stick with us.
True racial equality will come when all this nonsense goes away.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 0630 hrsIt admits that the US Government and it states operated terrible concerning the legalization of these types of policies. Now if only Dresden and Tokyo could get an apology…As always play the Democrats did this and that card, always forgetting to mention that nearly all of the anti-civil rights legislators became Republicans, and that the classic Progressive and Republican Parties have more in common with the Dems today, while I get Jefferson Davis and Jack Kingston of GA confused often. The ones who apologized lost elections, the others used the Southern Strategy and become “bastions” of the Conservative movement. Somewhere in hell, Jesse Helms is tear eyed today.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 0829 hrsI think you mean the anti-civil rights legislators remained democrats. I think you also mean that Dresden and Tokyo should be issuing an apology.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 0905 hrsNow if only Dresden and Tokyo could get an apology…
Yeah, and let’s not stop there. I think I deserve an apology from the Romans for the atrocities inflicted on my Anglo Saxon ancestors…
Sometimes I wonder if people are really that naive. And then I read posts like this and realize the entire “progressive” movement is full of people that have no capacity to understand historical perspective.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 0929 hrsI think we could use a little more of this kind of acknowedgment of the past. I’ve noticed people around here aren’t as conscious of segregation as they were down south. I’ve actually had people tell me that slavery was hundreds of years ago and the US has been nothing but kind to blacks ever since.
There’s still a lot of shame and bigotry floating around attached to that period, but acknowledging it, and apologizing, helps put it to bed. I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot more of this kind of thing when the boomers raised in the last vestiges of the practice start dying off.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1104 hrsThere’s still a lot of shame and bigotry floating around attached to that period, but acknowledging it, and apologizing, helps put it to bed.
And an apology from people not connected with actual insult is worth what, exactly? (Hint: less than the breath used to utter it.)
Under the theory you’re proposing I want my reparations for my ancestors who fought and died for the North in the Civil War. Fair’s fair. And I want an apology from the Congress for making that war and killing my relatives. And I want reparations for the economic damage Jim Crow caused my ancestors’ businesses.
If these members of Congress are going to take responsibility for something they didn’t do, they need to do it right and take responsibility for the whole action.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1224 hrsI’ve noticed people around here aren’t as conscious of segregation as they were down south.
Really? You’ve obviously never been to Boston. Take a look at the most segregated cities in the country sometime. You might be surprised where they actually are.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1227 hrsBro: The usually foolishness.
cynical: Using weapons that ignite when they explode on large civilian population centers is immoral, and anyone aware of the charges brought against the Nazis for doing the same would notice the hypocrisy. The Roman Empire has not existed in centuries, and the Anglo-Saxons founded this nation called England, you should visit sometime. The US government(no matter who is in charge nerdbert, you are responsible for the actions of your government, no matter if it is overthrowing elected leaders in Chile or backing Dictators in Greece, the US government did it, and should man up to their mistakes). Nerdbert the argument you made is flawed, the people who lived under Jim Crow had no choice, and many people volunteered for the Union cause, as well as the fact that only the typical Confederate Revisionist would say that the Union cause was not just and worth fighting. Furthermore, as I am guessing many people do not know, Black people have never actually received reparations and that movement it rather weak, outside of a few misguided elements. It is alright symbolically, but economically and logistical unfeasible.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1250 hrsDang should be usual foolishness
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1250 hrsHow many jews were killed in Dresden TheIdealVoice?
Germany and Japan started that war, we ended it. They are the ones owing an apology, although by now no one gives a damn. Note that the great anti-civil rights democrat was George Wallace, who remained a democrat to the end.
I see you still have your usual lack of historical knowledge.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1340 hrs1) NEWSFLASH: The Jews were not the only people dying in WWII…50 Million people of all races died in that conflict. Plus Hitler offered the Jews to the west, they all(even sadly FDR) declined. 300,000 refugees where in Dresden during those Feb 1945 bombings and 20 to 40 thousand civilians were killed. The war in Europe ended in May 1945.
Germany was pillaged by the West after WWI, creating the opening for the rise of Hitler in the first place, by basically forcing on them immoral war reparations that ruined their economy and opened the door for the Nazis.
The Japanese did not want their homeland raped by the Great Powers who carved up China in years prior.
Justified? No, but certainly it did not happen in a vacuum as so many on the right don’t happened to realize. Hitler WAS evil, but concerning economic issues the German people had a right to be angry with how they were treated by the West. The Emperor was not evil, just nationalistic and feared what happened in India and China would happen there: the economic enslavement of his country.
You should remember that the British alone held more lands and killed more people in the 40 years before the war alone. It is dishonest to treat a literal empire as a moral superior to Japan or Germany.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1401 hrsSpoken like a good German holocaust denier, TheIdealVoice. The neo-fascists hold a rally every February for Dresden. I’m sure they would welcome another one to the party.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1406 hrsI don’t understand why this is such an issue. The federal government of the United States treated black people like less than human up until forty some years ago. Now the fed is apologizing for it, like the they’ve apologized for abuses against Japanese Americans and the Hawaiian people in the past. What’s the problem?
Why start making these insane analogies about apologies for acts of war, or personal apologies for individuals who’s ancestors might have lost money because they couldn’t legally serve black people food? I can tell how far this country has to go in race relations by how twitchy and irrational some of you get when it’s even brought up.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1508 hrsWow, I 1)point out that Jews died in the first line, so I am not sure how I can denied something I pointed out in the first sentence. 2) A holocaust denier either believes it didn’t happen or that the 6 million number is to high, I didn’t imply either. Thanks for playing though. Dresden subcamp was one of 84 subcamps that were apart of Flossenburg Camp Complex, that about 90,000 jews passed through, with 30,000 dying. Lets just say that it was evenly divided between the the 84 camps: 300 jews died at Dresden subcamp. Awful yes I know, but how does that justify killing 20,000 civilians? The bombing of Dresden was and is a war crime and people in Western nations were shocked that a historical culture center was firebombed into oblivion. Even Churchill was critical of the bomb in Dresden. O, they opened a holocaust museum on the site last year, and the President of Ukraine attended, as his father was imprisoned there. Those darn Ukrainian Fascists!
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1618 hrsIdealvoice, you really are full of anti-America hate. You blame the U.S. for the bombings but don’t mention that maybe Germany and Japan are responsible for the actions. Germany threatened to take over Europe and Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, but no, you don’t want apologies from, just the U.S. Germany and Japan could have stopped or not acted, but you blame the U.S. How pathetic.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1625 hrs“The bombing of Dresden was and is a war crime..” Good to know we have a judge and jury in our midst.
The jews of Dresden were murdered by the Germans prior to the bombings, Keith. About 40 died in the bombings. Another 4800 or so had already been sent to their deaths by the innocent civilians of Dresden.
Dresden was a military target bombed for military reasons (it was a transportation center currently in the midst of a great deal of transportation specifically related to the war). Those military reasons existed because of the nature of the German State; a nature solely the responsibility of Germany.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1632 hrsO Dan, and we were getting so close over on Badger Blogger. Here is a map showing the evolution of the British Empire(it is a little slow, but pay attention to the year 1938)
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:British_Empire_ evolution.gif
Also 2 million people in Bengal and India died in 1943 because the British were redirecting rice and grain to allied troops, while poor oppressed people where starving. Churchill was quoting as saying “If food is so scarce, why hasn’t Gandhi died yet?”
So like I keep asking is: Why do you have this belief that the British are morally better than the Germans, and why the British Empire is just and the German Empire is a problem. They either are both bad or good. You basically are saying that the British and French empires are acceptable, but the planned ones of the Germans and the Japanese are not. I believe they are both morally corrupt groups of powers.
Pearl Harbor is a military base stationed with SOLDIERS. Tokyo is a large CIVILIAN city. 57 civilians died at Pearl. 88,000 thousand civilians died during ONE firebombing of Tokyo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tokyo_kushu_1945-3.jpg
I see. So the 20 thousand Dresden civilians killed them, not the SS who ran the Camps under the Germans. That makes sense. So the next time someone is wrongly executed in this country, kill the state’s citizens, but don’t say anything about the Governor.
So if the Japanese bombed Honolulu as well, that would be okay because it was close to Pearl so it could be called a legitimate target.
Great game you guys.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1711 hrsYes, the bombing of Tokyo was a good thing, as was the bombing of Dresden. Japan and Germany made war at the bidding of their citizens. The SS was acting not to do their own bidding but the bidding of Germany, and if you think the SS acted without the collusion of the entire state you are mistaken.
Every day World War 2 continued Japan and Germany murdered indiscriminately. Their policy was one of liquidation of the humans in the territories they occupied. The policy of the free world was to end the war as quickly as possible so as to minimize the casualties of all the participants, including Japan and Germany. The bombings of Tokyo and Dresden contributed to that end.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2008 at 1917 hrsI would hold the Soviet Union responsible for starting WWII as an ally of Germany, but that guilt was paid for, in spades. Some 20 millions died at the hands of Joe Stalin and his former ally. The US lost about 300,000 dead, the Soviet Union lost over 1,000,000 counting second lieutenants alone.
I suppose it is fitting that the Democrats should apologize for slavery and Jim Crow laws. I just hope that the Republicans don’t apologize for freeing the slaves, nor for Reconstruction.
Posted by Don Meaker on July 30, 2008 at 2219 hrs
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