Y'all don't have to apologise to all your ex-slaves Pilgrims, your representative in Congress did it for you...!
US House of Reps apologises for slavery
Jul 30 20084
By Jim Abrams
The US House of Representatives has apologised to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors under slavery and segregation laws.
"Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past," said Carolyn Cheeks, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The resolution, passed by voice vote on Tuesday, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white politician to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary run-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 apologised for failing to pass anti-lynching laws.
Five states have issued apologies for slavery, but past proposals in Congress have stalled, partly over concerns that an apology would lead to demands for reparations.
The Cohen resolution does not mention reparations. It does commit the House to rectifying "the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow."
It says Africans forced into slavery "were brutalised, humiliated, dehumanised and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage". It also says that black Americans today continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and so-called Jim Crow laws that fostered discrimination and segregation.
The House "apologises 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".
"Slavery and Jim Crow are stains upon what is the greatest nation on the face of the earth," Cohen said. Part of forming a more perfect union, he said, "is such a resolution as we have before us today where we face up to our mistakes and apologise as anyone should apologise for things that were done in the past that were wrong."
Cohen became the first white to represent the 60 per cent black district in Memphis in more than three decades when he captured a 2006 primary where a dozen black candidates split the vote.
He has sought to reach out to black constituents, and early in his term showed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus until learning that was against caucus rules.
Another act as a freshman congressman in early 2007 was to introduce the slavery apology resolution. His office said the House resolution was brought to the floor only after learning that the Senate would be unable to join in a joint resolution.
More than a dozen of the 42 Congressional Black Caucus members in the House were original co-sponsors of the measure.
Let's see now, a Jewish congressman from a black district in Tennessee, excluded because of his race from the House black caucus -- introduces a resolution in the People's House, gets it passed on a voice vote so there are no fingerprints..... and now he can go back and suck up to his constituents.
I don't know his constituents but I reckon they'd be a whole lot happier if he and his useless cronies had spent the same time trying to solve some of the energy problems and do something about gas prices.... before they turned off the lights and headed out of town on their five week vacation from their three day work weeks.
I din't own any slaves nor know anybody that does, nor did my Daddy, nor his Daddy, nor his Daddy --- but I am a slave to $4.00 gasoline simply because the Dimmocrats don't wanna get involved in the real business of this country!
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