Where is the apology for slavery? (Derrick Z. Wants an Apology From the Crackers)

Boston Globe ^ | 7-11-03 | Derrick Z. Jackson

[Lance Romance]

HERE IS a simple reason American presidents will not apologize for slavery. An apology for the past means asking white Americans to take responsibility for the present. One hundred and forty years after the Emancipation Proclamation, that remains a task too heavy for presidents to perform. The truth remains too terrible for Americans to bear.

[discostu]

Sorry Derrick, my family were Germans until quite a while after the Civil War, we have nothing to apologize for.

[Semper Paratus]

Clinton already apologized for salavery.

Is this meant to be an annual event now?

[moneyrunner]

Here’s the problem that Derrick has: he has a slave mentality. A free man does not depend on others for their happiness or well-being. A free man does not care about apologies, reparations or getting even. Derrick, like all who are slaves, is dependent on a white man to make him happy – to fill some void in his own soul. Whether it’s an apology, reparations, affirmative action, welfare or a panoply of outside assistance, Derrick is dependent. It must be hell to hate someone else, but be dependent on him for your fulfillment. Don’t be angry with Derrick, he is his own worst enemy.

[RWG]

going back to the time before we were a nation, European Americans received the fruits of the slave trade...if we go back to the time before we were a nation it is impossible to have European AMERICANS.

[RWG]

Take note that you didn’t free yourself from slavery. It was other “whites” that lived in this very country that fought and died for your freedom.

Just as it was Branch Rickey who broke the color barrier in MLB before steroids.

Just as it was LBJ who got the civil rights act into law before and after matin luther king.

[honeygrl]

"To be honest, my grandpa's great grandmother WAS PLOWING THE FIELDS herself when Jesse James rode up and left her standing there with the rig and no horses. "

A high school friend of mine found out she was actually a decendant of Jesse James when a family member finally finished working on their family tree. Maybe you could get compensation from her family for those horses! ;)

[beachn4fun]

Oh, and I heard rumors that it still goes on. You know: slave ships?

[FractalSphere]

>I think you ought to email him!

We should compile the whole list of responses and email it to him. (can we do that?)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Where's the thank you for emancipation?

[sonofron]

"First, I have to get an apology and a reparations check from the Italian government to atone for the Romans who enslaved my Anglo-Saxon ancestors. "

i hate to be technical, or knit-picky, but the anglo-saxons were never ruled by the romans.

[mtbopfuyn]

thanks to Washington Post reporter Keith Richburg who wrote this excellent essay

Thanks for the link. I'd read something similar to this a few years ago in Reader's Digest but don't remember that author's name (anyone know of that article or if it's Richburg?). A few years ago, Whoopi Goldberg rose a dozen points in my book when she stated on tv that she doesn't want to be called an African American, she is an American. She said she'd been to Africa, unlike so many so many others who complain about the US/slavery, and had seen the conditions there so thanks her lucky stars her ancestors were brought here.

[mtbopfuyn]

my grandpa's great grandmother WAS PLOWING THE FIELDS herself when Jesse James rode up and left her standing there with the rig and no horses.

Yikes, Jesse was my cousin! I'm sorry your granny's horses were stolen, but hey, I had NOTHING to do with it. ;-) My great-granny would tell of Frank James coming at night to visit but she'd make the men folk stay on the porch because she didn't want the likes of him in her house.

[Gothmog]

Thank Valin, I'm just a humble transfer cable.

[Valin]

And blah blah blah.

[floriduh voter]

Yumpin yiminy. I accept your apology on behalf of my ancestors for "borrowing" the Nelson's plow horses. The James Gang did not harm my GGMother in any way and after all, she got out of plowing that day. LOL

The James Gang hid out at Red Rock in Eastern SD and robbed banks across the state lines and would then go back to Red Rock.

Smart to keep them on the porch cuz there were quite a few of 'em & hygiene in those days under those circumstances probably wasn't the best.

I will not be seeking reparations or restitution from you even if you're just teasing me. Fregards, Floriduh Voter

[judgeandjury]

It all starts with understanding. Understanding starts with an apology.

I am very sorry that African tribal leaders sold their fellow Africans into slavery.

[floriduh voter]

Check out post #92, a freeper descendant of Frank James. Maybe we found a long lost relative of your friend. Please tell your friend I won't be seeking reparations or restitution. It's a true, folk tale GGM Nelson wasn't harmed by the James Gang. That was two plow horses but who's counting? LOL

[sweetliberty]

How about, "Derrick, I'm truly sorry you're such an idiot that you do not grasp that there is no black person alive who was ever kept as a slave, at least not in this country, and that there is no white person alive who has ever owned one."

Why don't these people quit lying and just admit they're looking for yet another government handout?

[FreedomCalls]

An apology would acknowledge that slavery's damage still requires repair.

Interesting.

138 years after slavery in America -- a country with the highest levels of freedom and an unlimited potential for individual enrichment, within the present population of the descendents of those that were enslaved, there are still damages that need to be repaired.

However, 10 weeks after the end of combat operations in Iraq, the left expects the Iraqi people to be living in absolute freedom, having a liberal democratic government, living in safe and secure cities, and enjoying all the comforts of the western world.

I profess that I will NEVER come to understand the liberal mind set no matter how much I try.

[bat1816]

That really seems to be the crux of things. White people fought and freed the slaves. When you consider world history and slavery throughout the world, every race of people has been enslaved at some point in time. And every race of enslaved people earned their freedom by escaping or overthrowing their masters. Every race except one...the black race in America. They did not have to lift one finger to gain their freedom. It was another gift from the white man.