Posted on 04/24/2007 8:54:47 PM PDT by Triggerhippie
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The state House and Senate approved separate resolutions apologizing for slavery Tuesday — one day after Confederate Memorial Day, an official state holiday.
"An apology goes a long way," said Sen. Hank Sanders, a Democrat from Selma who sponsored his chamber's resolution. "Some of us can't begin to heal until we have an apology. Some of us can't move into reconciliation until we have an apology."
Neither resolution will become official unless approved by the other chamber and signed by the governor. The House passed its resolution with an unrecorded voice vote; the Senate's vote was 22-7.
Sponsors were optimistic that at least one of their resolutions would make it to the governor's desk. Republican Bob Riley was expected to sign it.
Legislatures in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina have approved similar slavery apologies this year.
"It's been a long time coming," said Rep. Mary Moore, the House sponsor, a Democrat from Birmingham.
The Legislature resumed work Tuesday after state offices were closed the day before for Confederate Memorial Day, which commemorates secessionist soldiers in the Civil War. The vote occurred across the street from the former capitol of the Confederate States of America.
Moore's resolution expresses state government's "deepest sympathies and solemn regrets to those who were enslaved and the descendants of slaves, who were deprived of life, human dignity, and the constitutional protections accorded all citizens of the United States."
Not all legislators agreed with the apologies. Some Republicans feared the resolutions would be used to seek reparations, and the sponsors added language that they were not intended to be used as a basis for lawsuits.
"What I have a problem with is apologizing for something I didn't do," said Rep. Jay Love, a Montgomery Republican.
Now that it has been firmly established that the slinking Whites are guilty, all that remains is to establish an exact monetary amount to determine how much that guilt is worth. Suitable reparations can then be paid to the oppressed descendants of the slaves. Jesse and Al will see to a fair and equitable distribution of the proceeds.
I can't wait to see what's going to be required during the "healing" phase.
“Not all legislators agreed with the apologies. Some Republicans feared the resolutions would be used to seek reparations...”
YA THINK!
I think the Democrats should immediately apologize for slavery. After all, it was the Republicans who freed the slaves.
So who do you propose gets reparations? Anybody who is black?
What about all those blacks who were slave owners?
Do they pay reparations? or is this only a one way street?
Speaking as an Anglo-Saxon celt I am still waiting for an apology from the Romans and a free Ferrari in reparation. . . . . .
Actually, I would give “reparations” to anyone, black or white, who promises to leave the US permanently. I would set the level at something like $10,000. If someone is willing to leave the country for that much money, then we are better off without them in the long run, and the $10,000 is a good investment. (Unfortunately, this probably wouldn’t work for the simple reason that people would take the money and refuse to leave, or leave for a short time then come back.)
Wow, I've got to get Hank Sanders' address!
I didn't know there were any former slaves still alive!
If he's a former slave, I'll go over there to Selma and apologize to him in person!
</dripping sarc>
Thanks for stating a point that few seem to understand, yet it's as obvious as Mount Rushmore would be if you plopped it down in Kansas.
Without slavery, there'd be no more "African-Americans" than there are for example Finn-Americans.
And Africa would be a rotting hell-hole.
Well, I guess it is anyway...
No, by their own admissions it has been firmly established that Dimocrats are guilty: any reparations should be paid by them alone!
I say, let the reparations begin!
My family has lived in Bama since the late 1700s...where they had a modest piece of property just family members working it. When you examine the nature of Alabama in the mid-1800s...the vast majority of farm owners in the state...had no slaves. When historians do reviews of black history of Alabama...they are drawn to mega-sized plantations and simply repeat various facts which have been known for over 100 years. So when you have 90 percent of the people of a state...over the age of 18...and owning no slaves...this becomes a non-story. These guys who want to meet in Montgomery and devote valuable time to the past...ought to be looking forward and finding jobs and economic pluses to enhance the state.
Bama BTTT...
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