Apology For Sl

Avery...not So Fast

June 24, 2009|Posted by Gregory Lewis on June 24, 2009 07:00 AM

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution last week apologizing to African-Americans for slavery. That cruel institution prevented blacks from reaching our full potential in this country, putting us permanently behind in a number of areas, including economically.

The resolution has opposition in the House from an unlikely source: the Congressional Black Caucus. The caucus is opposed to the apology because of a disclaimer that does not authorize or support restitution or reparations.

Individual members of the black caucus said a 1988 apology to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II was issued with no such disclaimer.

I am proud the black caucus, led by my former representative Barbara Lee, D-California, is opposing the resolution. The U.S. government should be held responsible for enslaving blacks and exploiting them for cheap labor from 1619 to 1865.

President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did not free all the slaves. Slavery continued to be in effect in the Southern states that had left the Union, and Lincoln was not those states' president.

Now the reparation question is a difficult one to answer. How do you compensate enslaved African-Americans' descendants? Who gets paid? How much?

What do you think? Do descendants of slaves deserve reparations from the U.S. government? How does the government distribute reparations? Is an apology for slavery enough?


The Old School jam of the day in honor of Black Music Month isPeople Got To Be Free by The Rascals.

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