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

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

[goldstategop]

Yep. Racism in favor of blacks is considered noble. No one, least of all Jackson is upset about it. To the contrary in his spiel, he calls for MORE of it. And he has the chutzpah to demand white Americans apologize for having tried to overcome America's original sin and then the one that followed in the form of decades of state-sanctioned racism. Gee haven't we done enough atonement already? And underneath his whine, there's no gratitude whatsoever to America for the blessings of his condition.

[gitmogrunt]

Hey Derrick you can pick up your apology at Pier 1369, along with your tickets to Liberia as you board the steamship that will return you to the land of plenty.

Bon Voyage!!

[shadowman99]

I am sorry somebody else who lived before me kept slaves. But it wasn't me. My children and I shouldn't have to pay for those sins to a generation that hasn't lived with slavery.

[schaketo]

Is the Liberia option still open for Derrick Jackson and his disenfranchised brothers and sisters? If so, I would like to suggest they get on the bus and sit anywhere they like. There’s your reparations. Back to your home continent. No need for 40 acres and a mule. We’ll give you a country.

[tru_degenerate]

When you apologize for Elvis.

[white trash redneck]

I'll take responsibility for slavery, a policy of individuals unrelated to me except by skin color, when he takes responsibility for the fact that black criminality has turned inner cities into war zones, a result of activity by people related to him only by skin color.

[tru_degenerate]

That African Slavery was completly different from American Slavery.

[Enterprise]

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that black criminality is very prevalent in pro-sports too. Oh I know that whites get into trouble too, but it doesn't seem to be in the same numbers overall.

[tru_degenerate]

'This country could have been Utopia'

You cannot be serious.

[rattrap]

Derrik Z. is a comic genious

[angkor]

Dear Derrick: I ask forgiveness that 1/4 of my ancestral line was in America prior to 1885, and that those were vehement Protestant abolitionists for more than 100 years. I apologize that nearly 360,000 Union soldiers died while ending slavery in America. I am sorry that the country has spent several hundred billion dollars since 1960 in the cause of civil rights.

[mhking]

If a white president of the United States were to apologize for slavery, it would say that the nation officially recognizes that white wealth before the Civil War came from what this nation did to black people (and Native Americans in the process).

Wrong answer, Reparations-breath!

An apology from the President of the US would indicate that the government feels some culpability for what was perpetrated by private individuals.

Derrick, my next question for you and the remainder of the Soul Patrol is simply, "What difference will it make?"

What difference will an apology make to the crack whore on the street corner looking for her next hit? What difference will an apology make to the gang bangers of South Central Los Angeles or Southeast DC? What difference will an apology make to the average black middle-class home owner in Atlanta's Cascade or the Castleton area of Indianapolis? What difference will an apology make for black parents who want their children to receive vouchers to go to better schools in Cleveland and Milwaukee? What difference will it make other than assuaging the egos of the poverty pimps nationwide who keep making unreasonable demand after unreasonable demand as opposed to sitting down at the table of mutual respect?

And before you answer, give some thought to what you say for a change.

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[MEG33]

I think you ought to email him!

[MoJo2001]

It isn't just white Americans. There are plenty of black and brown Americans that refuse to pay for reparations. You want money? Get a job!

[Daveinyork]

I'm Jewish. In 3,500 years, I am not aware of any apologies from the Egyptions. That's in Africa, isn't it?

[Redwood71]

"Africans did not hate slavery in Africa because it was part of the culture. They hated being taken from their homeland."
_____________________________________

Then those who want to, may leave. But in the thoughts of Whoopi Goldberg after she came back from Africa when she basically said that she doesn't want to be an Afican-American any more because they don't live well over there like we do here. She just wants to be an American.

[mtbopfuyn]

Look at things in those schools like the Black Student Union. How about the Black Patrolmans League (an orgininzation for BLACK police officers) or the Black Senators Caucus (for BLACK senators) or the Black Miss America?

It would sure hit the fan if anyone proposed a White History Month.

Anyone remember when Oprah (ugh) went on one of these apology rants and had her whole audience stand and apologize to the decendants of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemming? I was flipping through the channels that day and was compelled to watch that abomination. Sure, I admit some of my ancestors owned slaves, but then again some ancestors were themselves slaves back during the times of surfdom and beyond. There has been slavery of ALL peoples throughout history. I don't expect others to apologize for making my ancestor's lives miserable and I will NOT apologize to anyone for my ancestors' way of life 200-400 years ago. It was THE WAY OF LIFE. We had a German exchange student but never felt the need to apologize for winning WWII nor did we demand he apologize for his grandfather being in the Hitler's SS. He nor I was even alive during WWII. I wasn't alive during African slavery in America, my parents weren't alive, nor were my grandparents or their parents. NO one's immediate family was alive during that time, so why am I being held responsible? IF I am responsible for something that someone else did before my time then the same should be applied to all Yankees to apologize to me for killing my family members during the Civil War, the Governor of New York to apologize for not honoring the 99 year lease of land my family owned in the middle of Brooklyn, Queen Elizabeth for causing such hardships on my family during the times they were surfs and the Normans and Saxons, and since England still controls Ireland to apologize for taking the lands and killing my Irish ancestors. Never mind I'd be apologizing to myself due to another branch being in line to the crown through Wm the Conquerer but then Derrick would be doing the same with his African ancestors selling his other ancestors into slavery, hey Derrick? I'm not going to apologize to the Indians for my ancestors arrival, bringing desease, and eventually setting up reservations, but then I don't expect anyone of Native American decent to apologize to me for scalping, killing, and torching the house of my great-great-grandparents and kidnapping the children to make them their slaves - which btw took place during the same period in history as did African slavery. But there's another quandry since at Jamestown my English ancestor married an Indian. See, it does get ridiculous. Derrick, this is HISTORY, in the past, learn from it, and go forward!

[Jimmy Valentine]

I don't know. The Supreme Court has just certified into law that Black Americans are not able to compete in life unless the playing field is substantially tilted in their favor.

We are headed back to the "3/5 of a white man" rule seems to me.

Regards,

[Dan from Michigan]

An apology would say not only yesterday's wealth, but today's wealth, was built on yesterday's evil.

What wealth? None of the wealth in my family.

As for this "white privledge"? Tell that to the 1800's Irish.

[A_perfect_lady]

White wealth before the Civil War came from slavery? Hmmm... well, that which did was *gone* after the Civil War, which is why the South is still the poorest part of the country today. White wealth in the North is and was not agriculturally based. And our nation's wealth today is not agriculturally based. I really think his whole premise rests on very faulty logic.