Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Apologizing for Slavery ... TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

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Tuesday, The House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and, the Jim Crow area.

The nonbinding resolution, which passed on a voice vote, was introduced by Rep. Steve Cohen, a white lawmaker who represents a majority black district in Memphis, Tennessee.

While many states have apologized for slavery, it is first time a branch of the federal government has done so, an aide to Cohen said.

"In passing the resolution, the House also acknowledged the "injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow."

"Jim Crow," or Jim Crow laws, were state and local laws enacted mostly in the Southern and border states of the United States between the 1870s and 1965, when African Americans were denied the right to vote and other civil liberties and were legally segregated from whites. "

He later went on to say

"African-Americans continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow -- long after both systems were formally abolished -- through enormous damage and loss, both tangible and intangible, including the loss of human dignity and liberty, the frustration of careers and professional lives, and the long-term loss of income and opportunity," the resolution states.

Congress has waited too long to be empathetic, apologetic, and sympathetic towards African Americans. Slavery was over 200 years ago and, you wanna apologize now; When we are still being enslaved but, this time there's no whips and chains. We are still being treated as second-class citizens. You ask WHY??? The reason why we are being treated as second-class citizens and slaves are because, RACISM is alive and well. Racism and Slavery fuel each other like "gas for a car" you can't have one with out the other. The effects of slavery and racism still lingers in our subconscious, conscious, and unconscious mind. The scars will never be healed with a simple half-hearted no- feeling- involved "I'm Sorry". Some may FORGIVE; While I will neither FORGIVE nor FORGET.

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