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Who should appologize for slavery?

Who should apologize for slavery?

  • The US government should apologize for slavery.

    Votes: 4 10.3%

  • The people should apologize for slavery

    Votes: 1 2.6%

  • Since elected officials represent us they should apologize in our name.

    Votes: 1 2.6%

  • The people in Africa whose ancestors captured and sold people into slavery.

    Votes: 2 5.1%

  • The governments of various countries in Africa were the slave trade once occurred.

    Votes: 2 5.1%

  • Government officials in Africa apologizing in the name of their constituents.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No one should apologize for slavery.

    Votes: 34 87.2%
  • Total voters
    39
the makeout hobo said:
But the US government, as an institution, was complicit in slavery.
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But there are no people left who warrant an apology for it.

If a former slave was still alive, he/she would be owed an apology. But since that is not the case, no apology is necessary.


By apologizing to people who have not been harmed by slavery, we instill the myth that they have been harmed by slavery.

No black person alive today has been directly impacted by slavery.

It's a total non-issue at this point, and the apology only serves to foster illusions that the current populous has been a victim of something long dead and gone.
 
No one should appologise.

someone might express regret!


Slavery still exists today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
the makeout hobo said:
But the US government, as an institution, was complicit in slavery.
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The US government, as an institution, changes hands each generation.

No one connected with slavery is alive today. If I find out my congressman signed on to a bill apologizing on my behalf for a something I did not do, then I will be in the market for a new congressman based on that alone.
 
the makeout hobo said:
What I don't understand is what we lose by apologizing.
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We don't lose anything, but like the Catholic Church apologizing to Galileo, it's a pointless gesture. It means nothing. The people who are apologizing had nothing to do with slavery, nor did anyone they might be apologizing to.
 
No one should apologize! But we should all get our freak on!
 
Tucker Case said:
But there are no people left who warrant an apology for it.

If a former slave was still alive, he/she would be owed an apology. But since that is not the case, no apology is necessary.
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So you would support an official apology for segregation, right?

Tucker Case said:
By apologizing to people who have not been harmed by slavery, we instill the myth that they have been harmed by slavery.

No black person alive today has been directly impacted by slavery.

It's a total non-issue at this point, and the apology only serves to foster illusions that the current populous has been a victim of something long dead and gone.
Click to expand...

The apology isn't necessarily directed to the descendants of slaves or to African-Americans in particular. It is directed to all American citizens, and to the world. It is the government apologizing for its own human rights abuses, as it should.

One can apologize for an historical act without implying that people are still victimized by it today. For example, the Catholic Church issued a mea culpa around 1990 for its persecution of Galileo and his scientific theories...that doesn't mean that anyone thought people were still suffering from the Inquisition or that the Catholic Church still believed the sun revolved around the earth until 1990.
 
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nerv14 said:
If the US government hasn't appologized yet, then they should, but I thought that the US had appologized already though. A government and a country takes into account everything it has done in the past, (national debt is an example) so they would need to appologize.


Normal citizens shouldn't though, because that was in the past, and I don't like the idea of a collective appology :p

If someone contributed to segregation then they should appologize though, but thats still about an individual appology.
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If one man bumps into another man, an apology is in order...a simple "excuse me" suffices..
Slavery is non-comparable with simple bumping. It happened, is over, and we may live for the future....
Sadly, slavery still exists...I have read. The poor sell their children into slavery in backward nations.. Women are sold as "sex-slaves"...again, I have heard....
Man must learn from his past, in order to live in the future..
 
Tucker Case said:
But there are no people left who warrant an apology for it.

If a former slave was still alive, he/she would be owed an apology. But since that is not the case, no apology is necessary.


By apologizing to people who have not been harmed by slavery, we instill the myth that they have been harmed by slavery.

No black person alive today has been directly impacted by slavery. The black man's family was quite well destroyed by slavery; he has yet to fully recover..

It's a total non-issue at this point, and the apology only serves to foster illusions that the current populous has been a victim of something long dead and gone.
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An apology would be silly at most; improved and special education might be beneficial..
 
Kandahar said:
So you would support an official apology for segregation, right?
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Certainly, as soon as all the other world governments apologies for everything they have ever done wrong in times that were very different. :roll:

Kandahar said:
The apology isn't necessarily directed to the descendants of slaves or to African-Americans in particular. It is directed to all American citizens, and to the world. It is the government apologizing for its own human rights abuses, as it should.
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If that is the case the entire world owes us a massive apology.

Kandahar said:
One can apologize for an historical act without implying that people are still victimized by it today. For example, the Catholic Church issued a mea culpa around 1990 for its persecution of Galileo and his scientific theories...that doesn't mean that anyone thought people were still suffering from the Inquisition or that the Catholic Church still believed the sun revolved around the earth until 1990.
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So the apology means nothing. Go figure?
 
earthworm said:
The black man's family was quite well destroyed by slavery; he has yet to fully recover
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That is utter crap. Welfare, drugs and the thug life style destroyed the black family. It was still strong during slavery.
 
Blackdog said:
Certainly, as soon as all the other world governments apologies for everything they have ever done wrong in times that were very different. :roll:
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What do the actions of other nations have to do with whether or not an apology would be appropriate? :confused:

Blackdog said:
If that is the case the entire world owes us a massive apology.
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What do the actions of other nations have to do with whether or not an apology would be appropriate? :confused:

Blackdog said:
So the apology means nothing. Go figure?
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If it means nothing to you, that's fine. But it does mean something to other people. If some people appreciate the apology for something where our government truly WAS in the wrong, and it doesn't cost anyone anything, what's the harm in it?
 
Kandahar said:
If it means nothing to you, that's fine. But it does mean something to other people. If some people appreciate the apology for something where our government truly WAS in the wrong, and it doesn't cost anyone anything, what's the harm in it?
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I think it encourages a victim mentality that really should have died out by now.
 
Kandahar said:
If it means nothing to you, that's fine. But it does mean something to other people. If some people appreciate the apology for something where our government truly WAS in the wrong, and it doesn't cost anyone anything, what's the harm in it?
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Congress is deducting the time they used to create and vote on that apology from their salaries?
 
Blackdog said:
That is utter crap. Welfare, drugs and the thug life style destroyed the black family. It was still strong during slavery.
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Black families were routinely broken apart during slavery.
I don't suggest that this is why they have problems now,
but it is inaccurate that black families were strong during slavery...
 
Jerry said:
Congress is deducting the time they used to create and vote on that apology from their salaries?
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Congress passes non-binding resolutions all the time; this is nothing new. Is your only concern here with the amount of time they spent on the issue, or do you have an actual objection to the apology?
 
Bodhisattva said:
Black families were routinely broken apart during slavery.
I don't suggest that this is why they have problems now,
but it is inaccurate that black families were strong during slavery...
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I think you misunderstand. Families where broken up, but the values of the families were strong. They are no longer strong today and slavery had little if anything to do with the destruction of the black family.
 
Originally Posted by Kandahar
If it means nothing to you, that's fine. But it does mean something to other people. If some people appreciate the apology for something where our government truly WAS in the wrong, and it doesn't cost anyone anything, what's the harm in it?
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Like jallman said, victim mentallity... where does it end? What about the horrible treatment of the Irish and Chinese during the building of the railroads... the Native American Tribes were treated worse, in general, than the African Slaves... too women for not letting the vote?... to blacks again for desegregation?
 
Blackdog said:
I think you misunderstand. Families where broken up, but the values of the families were strong. They are no longer strong today and slavery had little if anything to do with the destruction of the black family.
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I did misunderstand... thanks for clarifying. I agree. Families wanted to be strong, and were when left alone. The issue with black families now is a more recent one, as you suggest.
 
Bodhisattva said:
Like jallman said, victim mentallity...
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Well, slaves WERE victims. That doesn't mean their descendants are also victims of slavery...but that is neither stated nor implied in the apology.

Bodhisattva said:
where does it end? What about the horrible treatment of the Irish and Chinese during the building of the railroads... the Native American Tribes were treated worse, in general, than the African Slaves... too women for not letting the vote?... to blacks again for desegregation?
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Yes, I think our government should apologize for all of those things. I don't understand what is so wrong about our government admitting it was wrong.
 
Kandahar said:
Well, slaves WERE victims. That doesn't mean their descendants are also victims of slavery...but that is neither stated nor implied in the apology.



Yes, I think our government should apologize for all of those things. I don't understand what is so wrong about our government admitting it was wrong.
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But is it enough to simply make a blanket apology? It seems so flimsy and fake...
 
Kandahar said:
Congress passes non-binding resolutions all the time; this is nothing new. Is your only concern here with the amount of time they spent on the issue, or do you have an actual objection to the apology?
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My "actual objection" to this non-binding resolution is that Congress should not wast time passing non-binding resolutions at all.

That and who cares about slavery anyway? I mean are these people of real consequence or just some irrelevant minority who are going to keep voting for the party that founded the KKK and stood with fire-hose in hand to oppose desegregation?

What is Congress trying to accomplish with this resolution? Anything of value or just more feel-goodness?
 
Kandahar said:
So you would support an official apology for segregation, right?



The apology isn't necessarily directed to the descendants of slaves or to African-Americans in particular. It is directed to all American citizens, and to the world. It is the government apologizing for its own human rights abuses, as it should.

One can apologize for an historical act without implying that people are still victimized by it today. For example, the Catholic Church issued a mea culpa around 1990 for its persecution of Galileo and his scientific theories...that doesn't mean that anyone thought people were still suffering from the Inquisition or that the Catholic Church still believed the sun revolved around the earth until 1990.
Click to expand...

But is it worth taxpayers dollars to do this since it means little to nothing to anyone?
 
Kandahar said:
Yes, I think our government should apologize for all of those things. I don't understand what is so wrong about our government admitting it was wrong.
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If you ran a company, would you want your employees while on your time and money apologizing on your behalf for **** you didn't do when they have real work to do? "Kandahar is sorry his ancestor's neighbor's husband had an affair with your ancestor's grandmother"
 
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