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Alabama Apologizes for Slavery
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-w...avery-apology/
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Gov. Bob Riley signed a resolution Thursday expressing "profound regret" for Alabama's role in slavery and apologizing for slavery's wrongs and lingering effects. "Slavery was evil and is a part of American history," the Republican governor said. "I believe all Alabamians are proud of the tremendous progress we have made and continue to make." Alabama is the fourth Southern state to pass a slavery apology, following votes by the legislatures in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Alabama's Democrat-controlled Legislature approved the resolution last week. The signing occurred in the state Capitol, which also served as the first capitol of the Confederacy in 1861. The Capitol was also the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march that led to passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The resolution describes "centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices" and says "the vestiges of slavery are ever before African-American citizens." It also says the House and Senate "express our profound regret for the State of Alabama's role in slavery and that we apologize for the wrongs inflicted by slavery and its after effects in the United States of America." Riley said he said he signed the resolution partly because it offered an opportunity to present a new image for his state. "Alabama's a different state today and we should be proud of it," Riley said. When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led the voting rights march in 1965, Alabama's Legislature was all white. Now it is one-fourth black. "This proves Alabama is open for everyone and we are ready to improve race relations," said state Rep. Mary Moore, a Birmingham Democrat who sponsored the resolution. "The issue of slavery and its impact on the country had been kept in the closet until a few Southern states said, 'We want to take it out of the closet.'" |
fuck, it was about time...
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Yeah, hope other states follow. Tht have not released a formal apologies yet.
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i want to apologise for killing my older brothers goldfish.
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there are a lot of people (believe it or not) that one way or another still suffer from the consequences of slavery. i know this may seem like a stupid empty gesture, but for a state to recognize its fuckups, no matter how late, it helps prevent future wrongs, it opens the door to making amends (such as paying reparations), and it clarifies what is right and wrong in the state for future wannabe politicians with ideas of aryan supremacy and shit like that. oh yes, those people exist, ridiculous as it sounds. slavery may have ended with the civil war, but alabama continued to be ran by bigots during the XX century. |
I want to go out on a limb here and say that evil is really bad and should be avoided. We're sorry if we've ever done anything evil.
I do not endorse evil behavior. Do you think this is too controversial? Do you think most people will back me up on this one? |
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ps- sure "evil is evil" but how are you going to recognize it with such a vague description? |
i think this is a big step, i mean as !@#$%! said the early twentieth century was not kind to African-Americans, and the fact it was Alabama says a lot
Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama were the center of of it all, and i mean it all, through the 50s and 60s the defining moments of the civil rights movement occurred in those 2 cities including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and Birmingham......dear fuck, let's just say it earned the nickname "Bombingham", and in 1963 alone MLK Jr was arrested for a non-violent protest, the police turned fire-hoses and police dogs on school children, and most horribly the 16th St. Baptist church bombings by the KKK that killed 4 little black girls 14 years old and younger this is very humbling of the Alabama Legislature to deal with their ignorance that goes back as far as Robert E Lee and Jefferson Davis, but as recent as George Wallace and Bull Connor |
I'm more along the lines that this is pandering and isn't a significant step. If they want to impress me, they'll do something that actually effects the community and not pass a resolution that is basically someone patting people on the shoulder and saying "there there".
How about election reform? That's a far more pressing issue. No one should have to wait on line for hours to vote. And then vote on an electronic machine that can be hacked. I feel that this isn't a politician taking a real step. I'd like to see something more substantial. |
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election reform-- then why not date rape? or wait, wait.. genetically modified crops! yes... or let's talk about generic presrciption drugs. yes it could be a number of things but an apology for slavery has an impact on the consequences of slavery. in law you always have a precedent. this official apology opens the door to further actions that will have an impact in the future. the evils of slavery have a repercussion today-- in education, in social services, in policy & politics, in criminal justice, and yes in electoral politics too. acknowledging the past lets you see these problems today. again, this is a non-issue to you, but it doesn't mean it's not a real issue. |
pandering maybe
but lets put it this way has the United States ever officially come out and apologize for losing the Vietnam War? acknowledging it is a step, even if it sometimes is a small one the nation as a whole rarely apologizes for anything, it takes serious humbling for a country to have perspective |
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agreed |
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yes. don't underestimate the value of good mental health at the national level. the u.s. government operates very much like an alcoholic family-- just look at the lies for that iraq war. |
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understood, but I don't think it's a non-issue - - - I just felt that the politician is just trying to get points without actually doing anything. I understand now that it IS an important issue that could lead to better things. excuse the double post. |
it is an issue-- as a beige person bound to have brown children, it means something to me, you understand? i am not a the descendent of slaves and if i am they are mixed in my gene pool, but culturally i'm not. still i have to face stupid racism and bigotry every day-- things that may be invisible to you. my wife is one of the few survivors of the native american genocide-- let me ask her when she comes home if gestures of this sort mean anything to her-- i know her well and i'm sure her answer is going to be yes. go and ask some brown people around-- sure a lot are going to say it's not good enough, but few are going to say it's the same as nothing. it's not the same as nothing. it means something. it does. the reason you can't see it is because it doesn't speak to you.
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I'm going to agree with swa(y) on this one....seems too little too late. start actually getting around to giving out 40 acres and a mule and I might be more impressed.
actions speak louder than words. saying "sorry" this late in the game is somewhat of a joke. am I supposed to believe that it was done with conviction? if they felt so strongly about it, maybe it should have been said several generations earlier. then again, I'm an unforgiving bastard and honestly have no stake in this at all.....so what does it matter what I think? THE INTERNET: GIVING IDIOTS LIKE MYSELF A VOICE SINCE 1983 |
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yeah but you see, the apology wasn't directed at you-- a white male--- that's my very point. it's meaningless to you because it's not for you and you lack the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. if you could, you would understand. and yeah i think the past shouldn't be forgotten, and more importantly its consequences in the present shouldn't be forgotten. so yes people are owed something because something was taken away from them. i support paying reparations to the descendants of slaves just like i support paying reparations to holocaust survivors. of course not everybody is going to agree with me, i don't expect that. but a lot of the wealth of this country was built on the back of slaves and they never saw a dime of it. payback would be simply a return on their involuntary investment. also: georgia, tennessee etc are not "pieces of land", they are states, i.e., they are political entities vested with power; "they" are able to enter contracts, make laws, raise funds, tax their people, jail people, organize militias, etc. they are also able to apologize for their fuckups. i know this sounds to you like a work of fiction, but it is these legal fictions that allow us to live in large, non-tribal societies. |
we have a prime minister who refuses to appologise for the genecide of indiginous australiains during colonisation when the whole race was nearly wiped out. nearly every single australian wants this apology
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you mean the convicts or the mass genocide |
since slavery has only been highlighted in an at least partial manner in schools in the last 30 or so years (in the south, specifically), this IS a big step for alabama to apologize. i only hope that it's not a show and dance and that things for people of color in the south start getting a bit better.
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I wonder which encouraged the apology more; PR and the tourist industry or genuine sympathy. But I guess any little bit helps, yah know?
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are you guys listening? thank you. |
im kinda riding the fence on this one...i agree partly with both....all i know is 'white' and 'brown/black' are such vague, sweeping generalizations....and that i have no idea what my great-grandfather did to other people in his lifetime...I do know that Fidel Castro took all of my great-grandparents land/plantations in Cuba when he took over...so when he dies, am I going to get an apology from the Cuban government? hell no...do I want one? not really (never even thought about it actually), but it would be pretty sweet to have my rightful land/inheritance...there are so many peoples/races who have been wronged, so many minorities that are 'unsung', that its almost comical to me how the 'large' minorites such as 'african americans' or 'native americans' seemingly get anything and everything they ask for...oh wait, because this is America, the same place they supposedly hate for being the racist trash heap that they call it so often...
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america, en masse, is a racist trash heap. take a ride through a town that's not one of the major areas and you'll understand.
no matter how you cut it, africans were brought here against their will into harsher conditions than you could ever imagine, and native americans had an entire land stolen from them. everyone else, more or less, came here of their own (collective) free will. either way, we're all niggers, spics, chinks, whatever, but this isn't a contest to see whose oppressed dick is bigger, so don't try and make it that. an apology for slavery is the first step towards maybe making it better for everyone. |
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you know, i'm not a communist, but latin american plantation owners don't exactly get my sympathy for their supposed travails. cuba before castro wasn't exactly a worker's paradise. cuba was a relatively rich country with a lot of poor people, and agricultural laborers were particularly miserable. to compare the loss of feudal power to enslavement is just plain ignorant and ridiculous. and if i may freely offend, for your stupid statement about 'native americans' getting "anything they ask for" as you put it, your feudal landlord great-grandparents probably had it coming. off with their fucking heads. Quote:
would someone please be kind enough to translate for me? thank you. |
for the record, i didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. my mom sacrificed so that i didn't go without, but since i've been on my own (for about 5 years) i've worked to get what i have. and my band members/coworkers are really the only white people i associate with.
i do understand what you're saying. this isn't the time to blame everything on race anymore, people have to step up and start being accountable. i don't feel bad for crackheads, not even my own father, or homeless people. but but but, it would be foolish to say that a poor black man and a poor white man and a poor hispanic man in america has an equal chance at overcoming most odds. the country has never been at a point where that's been possible. it's getting to that point, but there's still a ways to go. |
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i know of black men who feel compelled to wear a suit when going to the supermarket, so they won't be stalked by the store detectives. true fucking story. i'd like to meet a white guy who needs to do the same. |
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you really need to get schooled before you run your mouth man. i mean sure everyone has a right to voice their opinions, but you really know nothing of what you're speaking about, so your opinions come across as just drivel. well of course you can choose to say anything you want; but truly, could you start reading a little? maybe listen to npr, if you can't stand books? really, i'm not trying to insult you here but you're talking out of your ass. you could try having informed opinions, that would be an improvement. here, start here.. it's just the internet and it won't be too painful http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...v46/ai_9177130 |
i was speaking with an ex-, but still good friend yesterday about her job at a bank. APPARENTLY black men get profiled as drug dealers when they drive nice cars and deposit large amounts of money into their accounts.
and often times i think about what it would be like to be white. |
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stop yakking and read that article. the first step to cure ignorance is to admit it. don't be afraid. |
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just read that article and tell us what you think. |
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it's a fact with anyone. style over substance is more american than the american dream, and it's definitely over-compensated for when there's a person who never had, but now has. not a black or white or yellow or red thing, it's more of an economic/class thing. |
well you said "black men like suits" when i was trying to point out how racism works on an everyday level, forcing people to put on a suit so they won't be taken for criminals. i hope that article clarifies what i was talking about, even though it doesn't mention it directly, you can put 2 and 2 together.
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Aw, bless! No problem, but please, next time be more gentle on us. |
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i used to live in washington dc, which is right on the edge of the south and has a majority black population, a solid black middle class, and a significant number of rich black people. and blacks, as the article says, are denied the public trust. my point wasn't about style or clothes-- it was about the denial of public trust. about being suspect by default. presumed guilty. this is a force you don't have to contend against. you really don't, and you really don't know, but then you try to discount it as if you did-- but it can't be discounted you see. |
Truth is that black (and not just them) people are not simply not seen as equal in this society as they should be, as fellow equal human beings. Don't even try and possibly make useless arguments out of it, or else, sway, you'll feel my mighty powers in making you feel like an idiot.
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Good. Let this shit die, it makes my blood boil.
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well, so much for fact-checking...and so much for keeping it civil. I would like to call you something, but your reply speaks for itself...you just assumed a lot about me...perhaps i generalized a bit, i apologize...'loss of feudal power' is relevant how?...not in my case...i have no cuban nor southern American blood in me...my great-grandparents were somewhat wealthy, and had a vacation-type home in cuba, and had to escape for their lives from a tyrant...they lost everything...lost the freedom to live in a land they love, and were pushed out and had their whole lives' worth taken from them [they escaped, if they had stayed, they most likely would have been slaves or executed (as you so elegantly put it] ...how is that not similar to slavery? loss of freedom, thats what it boils down to for people today, right? ( my ancestors were not forced to submissive work, and some black people's were, how the hell does that affect us now?) I see the difference, but the similarity is obvious... The point is: apologizing for breaking your great great grandfather's back is kinda moot? is it not? I dont think its changing anyone's opinions today...There is something much larger that needs to happen...the loss of ignorance, maybe? I dont know if that can be taught in a history lesson, people are not very smart...Forgiving and Forgetting. Bingo. Right there. Perhaps these apologies are a good thing after all. But if the govt. is doing its part, then African Americans must also do theirs...What comes after an apology? Forgiveness or a more blame? |
damn, sway and i agreeing on something again....btw, im a first-generation southerner too, so i too have seen what sway is talking about...
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