Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The U.S. House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.
“Today represents a milestone in our nation’s efforts to remedy the ills of our past,” said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.
Congress has issued apologies before – to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for failing to pass anti-lynching laws.
It says that Africans forced into slavery “were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage” and that black Americans today continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow laws that fostered discrimination and segregation.
The House “apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow.”
From the Left 
Do you know who had the audacity to vote against it?
I remember when the first go around for an official apology for lynching failed, both Texas Senators, Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn voted against it and their office were deluged with hate email.
It was ironic considering the fact that Texas lynched black Americans in record numbers.
I guess old habits die hard in the Lone Star state, if at all.
Listen, I think this resolution is a longtime past due and it certainly is owed to the African American community in this nation but at the end of the day, I would’ve preferred to see the House take other action, like blocking FISA or stopping the blank checks for Bush’s war.
But this House, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer has demonstrated itself unwilling an incapable of standing up to this sorry excuse for a president, so this resolution is probably all we hope to get from them.
My bullshit-o-meter is in the red zone. This smacks of election year folly. The resolution actually does nothing to help the black community. MLK’s whole platform included giving an educational foundation, so people could have decent family wage jobs & not live in poverty. This little tap dance does nothing to help the plight of those still suffering with poverty & lack of funding for higher education & decent health care. Soon they will be *sorry* for Abu Ghraib & Gitmo, & the illegal occupation in Iraq. Then they will be sorry for failing to Impeach Bushco. Then apologies for bringing the country to bankruptcy. Sorry does not really cut it, if it does not come with some tangible solution in the here & now.
All I can say is they are one Sorry bunch in congress ~ and they can’t use the “our hands were tied as a minority” either. Sorry indeed.
So in an election year, when a third of the Congress is up for reelection, suddenly these scalawags get a bug up their asses to pass a resolution apologizing for the hideous legacy of lynching?
Sorry, but call me a cynic but this reeks of appalling self-interest and calculation.
Did you guys see where Obama gave a speech in Chicago where he suggested reparations might be appropriate? AM winger radio went absolutely apeshit over the mere suggestion of reparations to African Americans.
Better late than never, Walk on Socks.
Shit, when the Congress voted to give African Americans our very own history month, they gave us the shortest month in the calendar.
Beggars can’t choosers. This applies to black folk too.
Now stradella, that is not how Black History Month came to be – it grew from Black History Week which was founded by Carter G. Woodson, in the month of Feb.
But I gotta give it up to at Rep. Steve Cohen…LOL……its obvious, but if it works, I ain’t mad at’cha.
Thank you for sharing this,
It is heartening to read.
Peace to you brother, M