The United States Senate finally got around to offering African Americans an apology for hundreds of years of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow laws. The resolution sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, "apologizes to African-Americans 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." The Iowa Democrat’s co-sponsor on the apology was Senator Sam Brownback, R-Kansas. The apology comes almost 150 years after the start of the Civil War. The senators inserted a disclaimer stating that "nothing in this resolution authorizes or supports any claim against the United State; or serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States." In other words reparations are not a part of the apology. A number of members of the Congressional Black Caucus objected to the disclaimer, noting, in the words of Rep. Will Lacy Clay, D-Mo., that an apology does not "...repair the damage..."
At the end of the civil war in 1865, Gen. William Sherman offered a reparations plan that included 40 acres and a mule for each ex-slave. Under Sherman's plan, land would be set aside in Georgia and South Carolina for the settlement of ex-slaves. Of course, this never happened.
President Barack Obama has stated his opposition to offering reparations to the descendants of slaves, putting him at odds with Rep. Clay and certain other members of the Black Caucus and some other black groups and individuals. Obama believes that good schools, proper health care and jobs are "the best reparations..."
Those who support reparations as well as an apology face many obstacles. The scramble for American tax dollars is only one.
No comments:
Post a Comment