Posted on 01/23/2007 5:26:07 AM PST by ItMatters2Me
We might be related
Del. Dwight Clinton Jones, D-Richmond, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, called Hargrove's proposal "out of sequence."
"Certainly we all want to celebrate the end of slavery, but not if it means ignoring the actual fact of slavery," Jones said. "We all want to celebrate the end of slavery, but the issue here is it's being proposed in order to get around dealing with the inhumane institution of slavery.
"We know that nobody here was involved in slavery, but it's a recognition that it was a terrible system," he said.
How could we celebrate the end of something without acknowledging it's existance? How is an apology "dealing with" slavery? Is Jones so stupid that he thinks anybody DOESN'T recognize the evil of slavery? Do I have to apologize for something I didn't do in order for people to know it was wrong? Abortion is evil, do I have to apologize for it?
I would have no problem with the resolution celebrating the end of slavery also stating exactly what Jones said here.
While commemorating the end of slavery is worthwhile, it's more important to acknowledge that the importation of Africans to the United States started in Virginia in 1619, said the sponsor of the slavery apology resolution, Del. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico.
"Virginia had almost nothing to do with the end of slavery," he said.
I also think that the acknowledgment mentioned could be in the resolution celebrating slavery's end. However, the implication that, because Virginia wasn't on the union side, that somehow Virginia now needs to apologize for slavery, is silly.
If I had owned a slave, it wouldn't matter whether I released my slave voluntarily, or was forced to do so, I should still apologize for ever having a slave. So whether Virginia ended slavery or not is NOT the point, the only question is whether citizens of virginia today should apologize for something done by other people over a century ago.
BTW, if I was standing on the floor of the house and I heard Jones make his rediculous statement that we can't celebrate the end of slavery if we haven't already apologized for it, I might well be tempted to tell him to "get over it". Maybe Hargrove was just tired of the absurd statements made in support of the resolution, and couldn't take it any more.
And wow I should profreed before posting.. "157 years ago" instead of "257 years ago".
First of all, I'm not whining.
Secondly, it is just as much a part of ones obligation as a member of an elected body to know when to remain silent as it is to join a debate. Just ask John Adams.
I simply pointed out that when one joins a debate on a controversial topic such as Hargrove did, one must be prepared for stories to appear such as the one underlying this thread.
This from the party of slavery, the party of the KKK, the party who honors its senior member who was a KKK official?
Party of liars, party of traitors.
And when one writes absurd stories such as the one underlying this thread, one must be prepared to receive the well deserved label of race-baiting demagogue.
I agree and disagree. I agree that all should be subjected to the same scrutiny. My problem is with why the scrutiny is even applied at all! It is literally impossible for me to care less whether (insert any democrat) had a slaveowner in his/her distant ancestry for all the well-expressed reasons in this thread. So, please, media, move on to something that actually IS intertesting....like the actual issue he was discussing!
while i do not disagree conceptually, i really think race-baiting demagogue is an innappropriate description in this case
Slavery isn't being whitewashed anymore. There was nothing good in it. Owners who proclaimed the most advance political theories often were the most hypocritical of Americans, see Jefferson.
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True, true, I hadn't thought of it from that angle. Thanks for the in-sight.
Okay. Let's see. If my great-great-great-great-great grandfather killed someone in a fit of rage, that IS MY FAULT??? I SHOULD BE CONDEMED FOR IT??? So, like I should have done something to prevent him from doing it???
His great-grandfather would be furious if he had ever found out that his descendant had aligned himself with the party that abolished slavery.
I think it's a thorougly appropriate label, both for the pair of idiots who wrote the articleand for the idiots like Dwight Clinton Jones (D-Richmond) that were demanding an apology. Del. Hargrove smacked them down, and they didn't like it, so they responded with typical leftist rhetoric: distortion, bluster, and irrelevant smears. Entirely predictably, their camp-followers in the leftist press joined in the fun.
You are worse than I thought. :-)
Even funnier to think they did all this on land they took from *my* ancestors, lol.
And my g-grandfather was officially an IW in Indian Territory - an Intermarried White - on the Dawes Rolls. How 'bout them apples?
"Owners who proclaimed the most advance political theories often were the most hypocritical of Americans, see Jefferson."
You can pile on a founder of this country, right along with the Democrats, all you want. I've disagreed with you numerous times in the past, and I still disagree with you. The incompatibility of human bondage with the ideals of the Revolution was recognized, even in the Constitution of humble little North Carolina. It was a difficult situation with no easy resolution, that culminated in a very bloody war. That apparently isn't sufficient for you and those who agree with you. So, prattle on. You have legions of socialists who are in complete agreement for a peanut gallery.
Somewhere in my past, one of my ancestors undoubtably raped a woman. Therefore, I am a rapist.
Somewhere in my past, one of my ancestors undoubtably stole. Therefore, I am a thief.
This is beyond silly, right into lunacy.
It's even worse than that Laz. If your ancestors did something perfectly legal at the time that is now illegal, you are guilty of their crime. So if my ancestors grew opium poppies in the 1800's, I must be a drug dealer.
Yes, it is.
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