WhoseTube:The Slavery Apology:
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
By Vetalle Fusilier
"Let us make no mistake: This resolution will not fix lingering injustices. While we are proud of this resolution and believe it is long overdue, the real work lies ahead," -Senator Tom Harkin.
So the Senate passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and racial segregation. While I admit I am pleased at the admission of wrong, thinking about the highly symbolic makes me want to look like Kobe after he hit a jumper. Why scowl, they may ask? But you know, and we all know, and the Japanese-Americans interred during World War II know, they have been apologized to, but so what? Slavery: while the word is still applicable in many parts of the world, it’s really me and mine that bear its legacy today.
"As I told you quite some time ago, in my last book Let's Face It, I wrote about the importance of our country showing the world that we are capable of humility by making an apology for our behavior towards African-Americans before and after the Civil War. I think this action is more important right now."- actor Kirk Douglas, on his MySpace page
Now maybe Kirk is a bit sensitive, having played a slave in Spartacus, and maybe at 90, he is just trying to get straight, but he collected signatures and gave himself to the cause of apology. And Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin wanted to pass the measure just before Juneteenth - a day of celebration commemorating the end of the Civil War and the release of African Americans from slavery.
“Juneteenth” is a p o r t m a n t e a u ( pronounced port-man-toe) which is to blend two words into one: like smoke and fog=smog. I can’t help feeling that this slavery apology is trying to blend the oldest observance of our freedom from slavery with some political grandstanding. As if there were a black President or something. But that’s another story. Just give me some vendors and some steppers and let me party about my freedom myself.
"Africans forced into slavery were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage," and "the system of slavery and the visceral racism against people of African descent upon which it depended became enmeshed in the social fabric of the United States."- From the formal Apology.
I have little doubt that no single political leader is not remorseful about the atrocity of slavery in this country. There is little evidence to lead me to the conclusion that this acknowledgement of the injury and wickedness visited upon my family, and still influencing my life, is insincere. But my hesitation to feel resolved is also genuine. My belief in change is perhaps not as strong as I felt one day, not too long ago, in January.
"We pledge to move beyond this shameful period and we officially acknowledge and apologize for the institution of slavery in this country what many refer to as 'the original sin of America,'" - Senator Brownback.
Dang, Jesus had to die to cleanse original sin, but the apology includes a disclaimer that nothing in it should be misinterpreted as supporting or authorizing reparations to be made. Whatever.
I think Saint Sekou said it best.
Sekou Sundiata
