House formally apologizes for slavery and Jim Crow

[Bonum83]

My Way News - House formally apologizes for slavery and Jim Crow




WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.
"Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past," said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.

Congress has issued apologies before - to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for failing to pass anti-lynching laws.
Five states have issued apologies for slavery, but past proposals in Congress have stalled, partly over concerns that an apology would lead to demands for reparations - payment for damages.

The Cohen resolution does not mention reparations. It does commit the House to rectifying "the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow."
It says that Africans forced into slavery "were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage" and that black Americans today continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow laws that fostered discrimination and segregation.

The House "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."
"Slavery and Jim Crow are stains upon what is the greatest nation on the face of the earth," Cohen said. Part of forming a more perfect union, he said, "is such a resolution as we have before us today where we face up to our mistakes and apologize as anyone should apologize for things that were done in the past that were wrong."

Cohen became the first white to represent the 60 percent black district in Memphis in more than three decades when he captured a 2006 primary where a dozen black candidates split the vote. He has sought to reach out to his black constituents, and early in his term showed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus until learning that was against caucus rules.

Another of his first acts as a freshman congressman in early 2007 was to introduce the slavery apology resolution. His office said that the House resolution was brought to the floor only after learning that the Senate would be unable to join in a joint resolution.
More than a dozen of the 42 Congressional Black Caucus members in the House were original co-sponsors of the measure. The caucus has not endorsed either Cohen or his chief rival, attorney Nikki Tinker, in the Memphis primary, although Cohen is backed by several senior members, including Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. Tinker is the former campaign manager of Harold Ford, Jr., who held Cohen's seat until he stepped down in an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 2006. -------------------------------------------------------------------

interesting.....

[CrazyGerbilEater]

slavery and jim crow laws in no way affect people today, only the reality that people who are different will be discriminated against. unless they were personaly a slave, screw off. and if they were, the only reperations would be ones from their owner, personaly, not just those related to the owner.


and why the **** would the government apologize for slavery, there are no slaves alive today. only their decendents. if anything, this just continues the beleif in different races in the human race.

nor are any slave owners, nor anyone who voted on slavery in government. therefore this is just bull****. so annoying. there are no jim crow laws anymore, so drop it.

people like this really annoy me.

[Mookster]

The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.

Well if that's not transparent, I don't know what the **** is.
Grabbing votes by manipulating someone elses suffering as a show of "good faith."

[Deg™]

Why the **** do you think this is serious discussion, and even if it was, it does not qualify unless you add anything to it to prompt discussion. All you ****ing said was "interesting..."

[Bonum83]

this is not spam, this is something serious, u have no merit to give me an infraction???just cuz i said interesting is enough..Or is it not serious to U?....does things has to appeal to ur liking?..Remove the infraction!

[DuckDuckGoose]

This isn't serious... this is sickening.
I hope he losses his re-election race, I hate people who use race in politics, we already cater enough to black people in this country, we don't need to go around apologizing for something that happened hundreds of years ago. People were salves, big fricken whoop. Almost every race of people have been a slave at one point in time, yet the whole world has to stop and apologize to black people.... get the hell over it.

[OmegaMatrix]

this is not spam, this is something serious, u have no merit to give me an infraction???just cuz i said interesting is enough..Or is it not serious to U?....does things has to appeal to ur liking?..Remove the infraction!

You basically copy pasta'd the whole article, and instead of contributing to the discussion you clearly wanted to start, you said "interesting....."
We don't need a news bot.

[Deg™]

Bonum, the infraction was for placing a clearly general chat topic inside the serious discussion forum. I was just too lazy to make a custom infraction. I believe you've had one of those before, so you should have learned.

If you had placed this here, i would have just made fun of you for posting it when you obviously are ignorant to the racism perpetrated by black people, and most likely don't understand what Jim Crow was, or the insignificance of this issue.

[Bonum83]

Bonum, the infraction was for placing a clearly general chat topic inside the serious discussion forum. I was just too lazy to make a custom infraction. I believe you've had one of those before, so you should have learned.

If you had placed this here, i would have just made fun of you for posting it when you obviously are ignorant to the racism perpetrated by black people, and most likely don't understand what Jim Crow was, or the insignificance of this issue.

so im ignorant because i posted this? and u are???.....this is our ****ing american goverment doing something as big as this, and this isnt serious????? if i posted somethign about the stimulus checks that they sent out would that have pleased u or let me guess ur under 18 and that doesnt affect u? u make no sense, but i guess if i told you that bill gates died u would be ****ing crying out ur ass? u have no logic as to what is serious and whats not....im bout tired of ur dumb ass.