The legislature of the State of Virginia has unanimously passed a measure to “profoundly apologize” (not just apologize, but profoundly so) for slavery.
Uh… yeah… in 20 years this will be all anyone’s talking about.
As a descendant of former slaveowners and possibly of former slaves (inconclusive evidence suggests I have black ancestry in the 18th century and Irish ancestors who may have been less than indentured servants) I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Because I really don’t know numbers that small. Not pitworthy, but I can’t stand empty pandering gestures; a century ago when there were still former slaves around this may have meant something but a bunch of mostly middle-aged well-to-do white guys in the Age of Anna Nicole getting together to say “But seriously folks, slavery was bad…” is worthy of Vonnegut in its silliness and absurdity.
Personally I think the notions of reparations for slavery are absurd, but I wonder… if this was taken to court again, could the apology be used as an admission of guilt and liability? That’d be funny. (Of course they could split the difference and pay in Confederate bonds.)
Cool! Does this mean that they’ll be giving most of Virginia back to the descendants of the Powhatans and other tribes? It must. Otherwise it wouldn’t really be sorry would it? I mean that’d kind of be like saying “I am really sorry I wrecked your car… I’m not gonna pay to fix it, but I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Not that one anyway. Cause it’s wrecked and shit.”
In other news, Benedict XVI says “Hey, maybe we can work something out with Henry VIII after all… let’s just say irreconcilable differences and go from there”. Meanwhile Spain is debating saying “Sorry Incans, we may have gone a little overboard in that Atahualpa ransom thing. If you’re ever in Madrid, tapas is on us.”
My ancestors were Huguenots from France, while they were dim enough not to know their own surname, they were smart enough to be in England before the St Bartholomews Massacre.
I’m really looking forward to a letter from Jacques Chirac apologizing for what his ancestors might possibly have done to my ancestors, I think a lifetime pass for the Eurotunnel would do nicely, oh and maybe a permanent suite in the Paris Ritz.
Maybe I’ll send a blanket letter to India apologizing for what my Great Grandfather got up to out there circa 1880 - although he probably mostly produced loads of distant cousins.
It is remarkably silly stuff, and makes me wonder why they bother.
In no way do I wish to cause controversy but the whole reparations thing just puzzles me. I mean, where do you start? I’ve heard one Black British aquaintance get very riled up on the subject of the slavery of people from Africa but fall strangely silent on the subject of any type of slavery involving non-Black people. I can see why people in the USA/Canada etc would possibly focus solely on making reparations based on ethnicity but in Europe the idea is ridiculous since throughout history so many peoples have been overrun/enslaved by so many other peoples. Sheesh, my own ancesters were slaughtered/enslaved by the next clan over. And they did it to others previously. There doesn’t seem to be much point complaining about it now though. Really, we’d just be passing money and apologies round in a constant stream.
Well, the Japanese seem unable to admit to, much less properly apologize for, the Rape of Nanking. This has considerably diminished my respect for PRESENT DAY Japanese. (I consider the ones in charge during WWII to be murderous scum). If the Japanese could just acknowledge what their fathers/grandfathers/great grandfathers did in Nanking, I would be less suspicious that they did not consider it to be such a bad thing. I have a higher-level of respect for present-day Germans than I do for present-day Japanese, simply because the Germans have acknowledged their crimes.
So I’m OK with official apologies, even if meaningless to the actual people who were harmed. It shows that those who issue the apologies have “manned up” about their ancestors/relatives role in the rotten things they did. Pity it took the Virginia legislature so long, but better late than neverl.
The NZ government have done a series of apologies to local Maori iwi here for several years now, as Waitangi Tribunal claims are assessed and heard, and compensation agreements worked out. A lot of crap was done to do with Maori land in the 19th and 20th centuries – and, unfortunately, it may still be happening.
I’m all for the apologies – but the governments doing it here back it up with something real, such as compensation, or giving at least part of the land back that shouldn’t have been taken.
There’s also been public apologies from our government to the Chinese regarding the poll tax imposed here.
Apologies are good. I’m strongly in favor of them.
Imagine if this had been a nonpology: “The Commonwealth of Virginia deeply regrets if its hundreds of years of enslaving Africans and their offspring offended anybody; it didn’t intend to cause any harm, and perhaps went a step too far in its enthusiasm for dealing in human flesh. The Commonwealth of Virginia would like to put this to rest and move on.”
I thought about starting a GD thread about this. Because I imagine a number of posters feel like the OP. Really, I don’t get it.
It’s not merely symbolic. The Commonwealth of VA is the same body now as it was when the slavery was upheld. Just like it was the same body fifty years ago, during Jim Crow. The record books show the Commonwealth of VA was fully behind these practices. Why not let the books show that the Commonwealth of VA has fully disavowed and condemned these practices, even if it is a 100 years too late? It’s about closing ugly chapters and allowing people to move on. For everyone.
I have to agree, it is a good thing. Not a big deal good thing, though. Virginia was in on slavery from the beginning, and pretty much scuttled any chance of the Constitution forbidding it in the first iteration. So, on the whole, it seems appropriate to publicly declare that our government sees this as wrong. Wrong then, and certainly wrong now.
I am not sure how many Powhattan natives survive. Damn few, though.
Now, interestingly enough, I had no ancestors in Virginia at the time. Most of mine were being driven across Europe, until the 19th century, and the few who came earlier were in Pennsylvania. I don’t think any of them owned slaves. I likewise don’t think any of them were slaves, either. A small branch lived in Boston, and probably had indentured servants, since they were fairly well off. Their indentured servants might well have been others of my ancestors, but no one says so for sure.
So, I don’t owe anyone money, nor am I owed. But I think slavery is odious enough a practice that it cannot be too often condemned, and an apology seems minimally to be a condemnation. This resolution certainly doesn’t even hit the back pages of “Moronic Shit Done by the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia.” Not even this year’s edition.