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U.S. Apology for Slavery, Victory for Anti-Racism: Obama Untimely?
30 June 2009
The United States Congress, for the first time in its 230-year history, issued a formal apology for slavery and segregation. It described that dark period in America's history as inhuman.
Significantly, the apology did not agree with the payment of reparations as long agitated for by African political activists and intellectuals. The Senators who issued the apology on Capitol Hill on Thursday, last week, condemned centuries of injustice caused by slavery. In a strongly worded document, the Congress unanimously voted to acknowledge the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws." The apology stated that the US Congress "apologises on behalf of the people of the United States for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws."
If the House of Representatives pass a similar measure as expected this week, it will mark the highest effort to apologise for the wrongs of the past. The recent apology is coming after a similar effort failed to make it to the United State's Senate in 2008 though it had been passed in the lower chamber. The resolution affirmed the "principle that all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and calls on all people of the United States to work towards eliminating racial prejudices, injustices and discrimination from our society."
The resolution was sponsored by Democrat Tom Harkin, who noted that Congress had never before issued a formal apology for slavery. "It's long past due. A national apology by the representative body of the people is a necessary collective response to a past collective injustice," Harkin said, adding, "so it is both appropriate and imperative that Congress fulfill its moral obligation and officially apologise for slavery and Jim Crow laws."
Jim Crow laws were enshrined in the US Constitution to segregate blacks and whites.
The Senate action comes more than 40 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, 146 years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and in the same year Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African-American president.
The non-binding resolution, which does not have the force of law, includes a disclaimer stating that the measure does not authorise or support reparations for the descendants of African slaves brought to the United States before the Civil War. The inclusion of the disclaimer in the Senate resolution has drawn sharp criticism from members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, was quoted as saying that "no one pretends that a mere apology or any words can right the wrongs of the past, but it represents our recognition of the past and our commitment to fully live up to our nation's promise."
Former President Bill Clinton, while in office, had expressed regret for the act while George W. Bush described it as "one of the greatest crimes of history. But they stopped short of a proper apology. Some states in the country had also adopted resolutions expressing regret for slavery, but no formal bill at the national level was officially passed.
The resolution also fell on June 19, being the celebration of the freedom of African-Americans at the end of the Civil War in 1865.
Plans are in the works for a ceremony in the Capitol rotunda on July 7 to commemorate the action of the congress, according to reports.
Writers have noted that Congress does not often offer formal apologies. In recent times, through the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, Congress apologised to the Japanese who were forced to live in internment camps during World War II. The Senate has also adopted an amendment apologising for the U.S. legacy of brutality against Native Americans. In 2005, the Senate adopted a resolution apologising for its history of filibustering legislation designed to combat lynching of African Americans during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Advocates who say black Americans should be compensated for slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath appear to be gaining victories and momentum. Fueled by the work of scholars and lawyers, their campaign has grown in recent years from a fringe-group rallying cry into sophisticated, mainstream movement. Recently, a pair of churches apologised for their part in the slave trade, and one is studying ways to repay useless black Church members.
The overall issue, it has been claimed, is hardly settled; even among black Americans: Some say that focusing on slavery should not be a top priority or that it does not make sense to compensate people generations after a historical wrong.
The Senate action was the latest attempt by Congress to deal with a prickly issue that has sparked debate for at least 20 years among some politicians and civil rights activists. There are significant differences between this proposed congressional apology and the apology passed by the US House last year. The House apology did not trouble to say that it could not serve as a basis for a legal claim for reparations. Furthermore, that apology also committed the House "to rectify the lingering consequences" of slavery and discrimination, which comes remarkably close to calling for reparations for slavery.
The resolution was introduced with eight co-sponsors: Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kans.), Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).
The resolution is entitled "A concurrent resolution apologising for the enslavement and racial segregation of African Americans." As a concurrent resolution, the apology would be voted on by the Senate and then the House, becoming a joint statement of Congress if approved by both chambers. A concurrent resolution expresses the sentiments of both houses of Congress; unlike a joint resolution, a concurrent resolution is not submitted to the president and does not have the force of law
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