US Senate votes formal apology for slavery

[Kadie]

US Senate votes formal apology for slavery

by Olivier Knox – 22 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Senate approved a fiercely worded resolution Thursday formally apologizing for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery" of African-Americans.

The unanimous voice vote came five months after Barack Obama became the first black US president, and ahead of the June 19 "Juneteenth" celebration of the emancipation of African-Americans at the end of the US Civil War in 1865.

The non-binding resolution now heads to the House of Representatives, where a similar resolution passed by voice vote in July 2008, only to wither in the upper chamber.

House approval, which could come as early as next week, would make it the first time the entire US Congress has formally apologized on behalf of the American people for one of the grimmest wrongs in US history.

The bill, which does not require Obama's signature, states that the US Congress "acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws" that enshrined racial segregation at the state and local level in the United States well into the 1960s.


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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090618/wl_afp/uscongressslaverypolitics_20090618164845

[Matariki]

1. Wonderful. Now if they will just work on issues promoting social justice

and decent education regardless of what zipcode a person lives in, and affordable higher education for everyone, etc, etc, etc...

[Zenlitened]

2. K&R.

[Merryweather]

3. Instead of wasting time apologizing for past injustices

How about trying to get rid of current ones? You know, like DOMA, DADT to name but two. I'd be the last person to disparage the suffering of generations of black people, but I think their legacy would be better served by redressing wrongs in the present instead of apologizing for ones committed in the past.

[ZombieHorde]

4. Another baby step. Good to read. K&R&nt

[Obamanaut]

5. Don't we pay them enough to work on current stuff rather than spend

time on things from the 1800's and earlier?

None of us were involved, on either side. What good does it do to say "My great great great grandpa was mean to your great great great grandpa"? None!

Just sayin' (I put this here because I read that if you say stuff that would normally piss people off, and follow it with 'just sayin', it has magical powers that removes the pissed-offness.)

[Merryweather]

6. Only works for liberals

;-)Right-wingers couldn't remove the pissing-people-off quality from the crap that comes out of their mouths if they had Merlin's own magic wand and a truckload of Brillo pads.