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Apologies for Slavery?
Resolutions calling for an apology for slavery have been proposed and rejected many times, and the most recent debate is occurring in Virginia. The discussions are heated and hostile (as they always are), with some claiming they, personally, have no responsibility, some suggesting that those who should apologize — and those to whom they would say it — are long-dead, others saying it’s a meaningless, empty symbol, and still others insisting that America has to “fix the damage”.
The institution of slavery wasn’t unique to the United States, but the aftermath is still affecting us deeply and felt keenly. Would an apology make any difference at all?
I put out my own thoughts about it here.
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22 Responses to “Apologies for Slavery?”
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I view it as an empty symbol, but to some it is an important symbol. Therefore it costs me nothing, and has some small benefit. I’ll sign.
And if your worried about the whole responsibility accident, there are plenty of situations where we say sorry when no responsibility is attached. “Your cat died? Oh, i’m so sorry.” does not mean I personally killed your cat. It’s more of a life sucks/empathy thing.
“accident”? that’s not even close to “issue”. I can’t even come up with a good freudian logic behind it or anything. sorry.
I do think that some sort of statement expressing regret would be not only appropriate, but the very least that should be done.
My concern is that we are in a climate where even a sneeze in public produces endless parsing and angry debate.
Perhaps by using the word ‘regret’ instead of ‘apology’, it would sound less personally accusatory. Then again, some folks won’t give an inch in the cause of healing and national unity. Perhaps these folks should just be ignored while we do the right thing.
I see no reason to apologize for something I didn’t do. An apology would be utterly meaningless in that context. Hell, my family wasn’t even in this country yet.
Sam — a lot of people feel that way, I think. Of course, part of my family wasn’t here either. And of course you weren’t a slaveholder, anymore than I.
But if one looks at the country as a whole, and at an apology as coming from all of us as Americans, then I think it transcends the “who was here when” or “but we never held slaves” or “but my family was always free” level of individuality.
Slavery, and the ensuing decades of segregation, Jim Crow laws, etc., are part and parcel of the emotional fabric of this country, and whether one’s family arrived here in the 17th century or the 20th, the history impacts all of us as Americans.
At least, that’s how it seems to me.
I still think apologizing, actually apologizing, for something you haven’t done is a moral impossibility. Lip service is all that can be paid by anyone living today, which to me is just another insult.
[...] No. H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks NO. By Average Tobacco Chewing Joe Polimom thinks I should apologize for slavery. [...]
Is it no to an apology or just denial? As a stockholder of companies deemed guilty of slavery profiting you are also liable.
No, Sam you didn’t do it. Who asked you to personally apologize? My ancestors did, though. While they didn’t necessarily own slaves some of them fought to defend it. Lots of Americans have ancestors who were involved with slavery in one way or another. And an apology from a state government that had laws that supported slavery, fought a war to defend it (No matter what the revisionists say.) and then abused those whose crime was being former slaves and descended from slaves is something that ought to seriously be considered.
I certainly can’t speak for anyone affected by the matter, my father is only a third generation American and my mother isn’t American at all. Still, I can’t see how apologizing would be anything but an emty gesture. When you’re done apologizing the de-facto segregation and poverty of the decendants of slaves in the slaveholder states continues, and that matters a lot more.
I can understand people feeling that they shouldn’t have to apologize for something they didnt do, something their ancestors didn’t do either. Most ancestors of Americans weren’t in the US at the time of slavery. Of those that were, a fair number lived in the North, and of those that lived in the south, I’d wager most had nothing to do with slavery.
But what about Germany? Germany has repeatedly apologized for the holocaust, and those asking forgivness almost certainly weren’t the original people to blame. No one sees anything wrong with that, though I’ll bet many young Germans are sick of the inherited guilt they are forced to carry.
I don’t think an apology would do much, but if the community wants it, sure, why not. It should be worded in such a way to make sure it’s clear that what is felt is regret, not guilt. I don’t think it’ll change the situation one iota, but one more piece of paper wont kill government.
Lynx, this is an interesting, commonly held misconception about the North. In fact, though, the North not only held slaves, some (like New York) were extremely reluctant to emancipate them. Yes, it happened without the Civil War, but it was quite a political battle.
My own ancestors were enslaved in New England — specifically, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Providence, RI and New London (and Norwich), CT were key hubs in the “Golden Triangle”.
Slavery was all over the place…
I stand corrected Polimon, my apologies. Still, even having slaves in the north probably wasn’t all that common. I can imagine it being the centuries version of owning a BMW, if you’ll excuse the extreme insensitivity. The population growth due to immigration well after the emancipation declaration was so massive that I still think the numbers hold for white Americans (I imagine most black Americans ARE decendant from slaves, and what’s much more important, have a visible reminder every day).
Since we can’t go back and change history, why not at least acknowledge officially the shamefulness of the practice? Its better than pretending that no one should still care about the past, or upholding painful symbols of Confederate pride like the rebel flag. It shows sensitivity to the feelings of others whose ancestors were wronged. I don’t think anyone would actually be held personally responsible.
Why would the changes in law (from the Thirteenth Amendment through the civil rights legislation) not be sufficient indication that we acknowledge past wrongs?
The problem I have with a state sponsored apology is who is really apologizing to whom? As has already been noted, the wrongs were of past generations who aren’t here to apologize any more, and if the state now issues an apology, it is speaking on behalf of all of its citizens (some of whom are the ones we think ought to be apologizing and some are the ones we think are owed the apology.) That makes no sense. In other words, the state of VA now represents whites who are descendents of slave owners, whites who are not descendents of slave owners, blacks who are descended from slaves, blacks not descended from slaves, and even some blacks who are descended from black slaveowners (yes, though not common, free blacks did in some cases own slaves too.) My point is, if the it’s almost a contradiction for the state of VA (or any other govt) to issue an apology because that sort of violates the idea that the voice that is speaking is actually a representative of the ones who should be the recipients of the apology as well as the ones who should be issuing it. That’s almost like saying that the “state” still represents just the oppressors, instead of representing everyone.
So, I think that the best thing we can do is ensure that civil rights laws are enforced properly- that is how the state should apologize for getting it wrong in the past, by getting it right now.
Agree with Stan 100% on this. The issue is so old now that the innocent and guilty are mixed and blended and gone and then some. Its an empty hollow gesture. And even if its not me personaly being asked to apologize, someone who wasn’t personally wronged by slavery is asking someone who never owned slaves to apologize for it. It just makes no sense.
And the reason Germans are still apologizing over the holocaust is because we still have people who remember, who lived thru that event. When those people are gone, it officially moves into the history books as a lesson and apologies become pointless.
I didn’t feel strongly about this until I read some of the comments.
So many reasons to find a public axknowledgment of past wrongs unacceptable!
This wouldn’t be a personal apology from one person to another, for pete’s sakes. And, while all the slaves and slaveholders are dead, the psyshological pain of slavery is not!
This might just bring comfort to the descendants of slaves, and the cost is….what, exactly?
The point that many who are opposed to the apology are missing, is that you don’t have to have lived through slavery to feel hurt by its legacy. Many also lived through the Jim Crow years of institutional racism. In Virginia, Prince William County closed its public schools in the 1970′s rather than integrate them. Some black students, who couldn’t afford private school, missed 5 years of school. Many are still alive who lived through the Civil Rights movement, and remember that only when the world saw black protestors set upon by police dogs and fire hoses, did anything begin to change.
I also disagree with those who think that just because Holocaust survivors are dying out, that its significance will fade. “Never forget” is the phrase that Jewish people use to refer to that atrocity, because to forget is to fail to learn any of the lessons of history and possibly to repeat its mistakes. There are many memorials to the Holocaust, so that no one will forget.
Our past is what it is, and while no one deserves personal blame for slavery, its victims should still be honored with an official apology. It would be a sign that we are capable of admitting a wrong, and moving beyond it.
Kim,
I don’t miss the point that you are making at all. But what about my point (which perhaps I didn’t articulate well): the govt can’t apologize without it seeming as though it is the govt of the whites instead of what it is and should be, the govt of all of the citizens?
In other words, an apology from the state would actually subvert the intended goal. We need to make it clear that the govt now represents EVERYONE, not just the powerful who used to enslave others. The govt can’t make an apology to the aggrieved without seeming like it is the voice of the oppressors instead of being the representative of both groups (those descended from slaves and those descended from slave owners.)
But if the govt simply takes the position that it does now represent everyone, it will make laws that protect the rights of all and will uphold those laws. That is the proper position for it to take because that’s how it shows that the grievances of the descendents of slaves will not be forgotten, and that the govt is now the voice of all citizens as it should be.
“[...:] the govt can’t apologize without it seeming as though it is the govt of the whites instead of what it is and should be, the govt of all of the citizens?”
I understand C Stanley, and I agree that there are ways of expressing remorse (or apologizing) that could be counter-productive… but I also think that there are ways to say things that are more all-encompassing.
What kritter says is another aspect of this that seems to get lost in dialogue. In fact, my own post title contributes to the skewed sense of timeline…. because kritter is correct: this really isn’t ancient history. The residual taint of slavery has carried forward far into our own lifetimes, and while I absolutely agree that continuing to work to remove barriers and combat perceptions is where policy should be focused, the “it’s all so long ago” argument is false.
Some of my relatives died fighting for the Union army to end slavery, yet I have not recieved an official “Thank you” for my family’s sacrifice from the NAACP or any other blacks. So why should I say “sorry”. Give me a break. Its crazy that this subject is taking up time at various levels of government. The reason ” The residual taint of slavery has carried forward far into our own lifetimes” is because people constantly pick at the scab instead of actually letting the wound heal like people talk about. Now that I have spoken my opinion I am now going to go on with my life and pay no attention to this “saying sorry” subject.
That’s why as an African American I say move on, apologies and reperations are futile request, as it seems there are some poeple (like some here) who act as though someone is asking each individual white person to apologize? Inane.
My full thoughts are here: http://djblackadam.typepad.com/damnitq/2007/04/black_people_we.html