NJ considers apology for slavery
Written by Michael Vass
When you see this image what do you think?
To many this is a symbol of pride, the South, and a glorious and romanticized time in America.
To me and other African Americans, it is a reminder that America explicitly endorsed the belief that we were less valued and important than furniture at one time. It is a subtly and implicit reminder that we are second-class citizens, that we are separate, and that many still feel we are not American. It says America is proud of the days when picking cotton, torture, mental and sexual abuse were the only obligations available to Blacks. That every wrong done to African Americans was justified.
Obviously there is a big difference in what Blacks and Whites see in the Confederate Flag. The flag waves besides the American flag in courthouses and official government buildings across the South. It’s been highlighted in movies and television. And few Whites grasp the impact it makes, the statement it represents.
Because slavery is a taboo subject in this nation. As unspoken as the internment of Japanese Americans in WWII and the virtual extinction of Native American Indians.
When you see this image what do you think?
Most every American will say either the Civil War or freeing the slaves first, but both will be the likely answer. It is this image that sums up, and is the only, form of apology ever made by the American government about slavery.
I have said all this because slavery, and reparations, is finally being spoken about in this nation. Potentially we will hear about them in this election if the trend continues. That is if it continues and the major news media picks it up and tells anyone about it.
Today it has been reported that New Jersey is considering making an apology about slavery. This follows Missouri thinking about the same thing in December. I’m willing to bet most Americans never heard a word about this.
Mind you, they are only talking about an apology. Reparations are something every state fears, and none are willing to even discuss the issue. I kind of see that like the saying
“If everyone is saying your idea is wrong, you probably are on the right track to do something never done before.”
Now as of today, Virginia, Alabama, and Maryland have each announced “profound regret” for the slavery they allowed in their past.. North Carolina has announced “profound contrition”. Georgia discussed the issue last year, with the disapproval of Governor Perdue. And there is Missouri and New Jersey as stated above.
As for all the Presidential candidates of 2008, only Dennis Kucinich has ever mentioned the issue, and expressed a need for the nation to apologize and make reparations. The ONLY one.
This is pitiful.
Name one thing in America that has not been built with the foundation of slave labor. Name one company, in existence since at least 1865, which has not benefited from slavery. Even JP Morgan and its shareholders acknowledged the connection.
In addition to the apology, JP Morgan created a $5 million scholarship for African Americans in Louisiana.”
Please notice that JP Morgan APOLIGIZED. Not regret - an intelligent (and/or emotional) dislike for personal past acts and behaviors. Not contrition - sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation.
The fact is that even now, some 400 years after the first documented slave was forced to America, not one American governmental body has apologized for their part in slavery. None. They are sorry for its existence, and upset that untold millions were slaughtered, but they are not losing sleep over it. In fact many are fighting against it.
There are many like
Or
Or
In each case these elected officials and media pundits seek to belittle the ancestors of African Americans, and in such belittle us today. In each case the argument ignores various points of fact. In each case denial is rampant as the only defense. And in each case the American government has failed to act.
Yet millions defend the right to display the Confederate flag. Millions insist that the South be remembered and glorified in momuments to the confederates and in movies. Hollywood and television see no reason why multiple symbols of the hyper-racist and small-minded nature of America in that time should not emblazened on screens both big and small.
As long as no one opens the closet and sees the lynched Black hanging there. And how dare anyone even mention that the closet exists.
And President Lincoln is offered as the equalizing symbol. That his actions corrected everything done in the past and during the years of Jim Crow and segregation after his 13th Amendment. To bad that is a romanticized lie.
Because history, as it is written and not proffered to us in the shortest month of the year, states that President Lincoln would have allowed slavery if it would have benefitted the nation. That freeing the slaves was less than a tertiary issue in the Civil War. That the 13th Amendment was a means to an end, and no more. And I have never seen a flag celebrating the freedom of the slave adorning a single American governmental building. Because the American government has never felt it is worth of such celebration. But the Confederate flag is.
Should New Jersey, Georgia, Missouri, and every single state (with the exception of perhaps Hawaii and Alaska) make an apology, I think so. Each and every one has benefited and could not exist without the efforts of slaves and Jim Crow era African Americans.
Should the American government make an apology? I cannot see a justification why it has not already. Nor can I find a single reason why reparations have not been made as precedence exists.
and a means of reparation exists. Not only the one I outlined at Black & White Blog (where I am co-author), which was challenged and questioned as any controversial idea should be – but it must be discussed, but also elsewhere.
We can do a lot of things. But the first thing must be acknowledging the wrongs done and APOLOGIZING for them. And along with that must be the major media and news covering this issue and presenting it to the American public.
Skeletons in the closet may be a reality of life, but they never benefit anyone. They always come out, and in doing so strife is usually attached when they are forced out against our will. There is no difference in governments and people in this regard.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:08 am
[...] is taking a step forward and it is needed. I was just commenting in a separate post, found at Black and White Blog, about the fledgling trend in states stepping up and making half-hearted attempts at apologizing [...]
July 9th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
why not a “thank you america”?? i’d be grateful we were taken away from africa, where many countries are still very poor and are going nowhere, unfortunately. africa is a beautiful continent and history pretty much began there. but those are the facts. i’d rather be chillin’ at home in san diego with my dogs, having a cold beer, and swimming in my pool, rather than speaking swahili and chasing some rat around a tree hoping for
July 9th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
dinner.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
an apology?? since when were you a slave owner and since when were you a slave????? uhhh, never. if you want to go there, then the u.s. should apologize to the american indian, mexico, for taking their land, and the list can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on!!…….useless article.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Mark,
The question is not slavery today, but the past. A past that has created everything we have today. Without which you could not have your beer or swimming pool.
As I stated in the post, and gave links to in support of my statement, America HAS made apologies - and reparations - to Native American Indians and the interred Japanese. The precedent has been established long ago. I am only asking for the same respect and acknowledgement that this nation has given others before. Is that too harsh to ask for?
I am amazed by the arrogance and dismissal some place to this issue. It is a reflection of the natioanl disavowment of our past and how that past affects the nation today. Your justification for just forgetting the past is weak and invalid, as the post itself directly states.
And Africa is not the issue here. Especially not the modern day Africa that exists after centuries of interference and abuse from European nations. Least of all the Africa you imagine from a 1930’s Tarzan movie. Which is an insulting comment in every way.
But how about this. Let someone take your family - your kids, father, mother, wife, siblings, or even you - by force from San Diego to say Switzerland (just as an example). In Switzerland they will be beaten every day. They will have no rights, nor will they be allowed to see or contact each other. They will be paid nothing, and will work everyday for the rest of their lives - 18 hours a day, 7 days a week at least. Would you say they should be greatful because they were living in a nation that has free healthcare and socialized government? I think not, because it’s absurd.
You think this post is useless. I think that is because you do not wish to deal with the consequences of admitting a past wrong has never been corrected. That the past is affecting every American today, and we don’t want to see it. For this post to be useful to you, is the same as having to understand the true past and not some Hollywood movie. And that just takes too much work for you it seems.
July 26th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Ahaan… I will follow.