What should the House apologize for?
Talk about warped priorities. The do-nothing/14 percent approval-rated Congress, led by Nancy the Navigator Pelosi, refuses to allow debate on drilling; the appropriations bills are in limbo, and judicial vacancies abound.
But hey, they’ve found time to take action on that all-important apology for slavery and Jim Crow laws:
The House of Representatives was poised Tuesday to pass a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and the era of Jim Crow.
The nonbinding resolution, which is expected to pass, 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 will be first time a branch of the federal government will apologize for slavery if the resolution passes, an aide to Cohen said.
By passing the resolution, the House would also acknowledge the “injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow,” the period after slavery was abolished in which African-Americans were denied the right to vote and other civil liberties. The resolution states that “the vestiges of Jim Crow continue to this day.”
“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.
Next stop: Reparations!
What a sorry lot.
***
What should the House be truly sorry for? Leave your apology suggestions in comments or e-mail.
***
Flashback: New Jersey apologizes for slavery
Flashback: Get out your reparations calculator.
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- What should the House apologize for? « Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian
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- Bent Notes » Blog Archive » And we’re going to send these clowns back to Capitol Hill in even greater numbers
- Target Rich Environment » Blog Archive » What the House Should Apologize For: The Jungle Revisited
- The House is sorry, oh and they are sorry as well « The Daley Gator
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tgusa 5.8 according to cnn.
tgusa 5.8 according to cnn.
I didn’t say anyone was racist. What I did say that it’s no matter to anyone else how much or how little of a racist any individual is, and they don’t need to apologize for being one. However, when that racism is institutionalized, I don’t think that an apology is out of hand.
It is not, now unless you count affirmative action.
Doesn’t the Civil War qualify as something of an apology? And wasn’t that almost 150 years ago!? Are we guilt free yet? Those were your great-grandparents, or great-great-grandparents…
The old adage, “Life isn’t fair” apparently only applies to non-blacks. Reparations? I thought the US has been trying to right the wrongs of yesteryear with measures like the Equal Rights Amendment, welfare, Affirmative Action, quotas, racial preference in college admissions, and H.U.D. When is “enough,” enough…and who decides it? Nancy? Dingy Harry? Ted Kennedy? Barak?
No, we are a fair country. We will permit those who feel they have received nothing (from the plight of the slavery) to decide. They talk about the evils of slavery, but are themselves still slaves and dependent on those they deem guilty of something that transpired not in their lifetimes.
1/ Slavery existed BEFORE the usa so it did not enact it. It condoned it and then lost 350,000 lives to remove it. You are welcome.
So has murder and genocide. What’s your point? That since it existed before, those that practice it afterward shouldn’t be accountable? Should we also ‘grandfather in’ murder and genocide?
Furthermore, the Civil War was not fought to end slavery. Ken Burn’s “The Civil War” might be a good place to start for some context regarding the Civil War.
Yes, Jim Crow laws were state laws. However, these laws were allowed to stand largely uncontested by the Federal government. Essentially, they are condoned.
It’s pandering plain and simple. I will apologize for your great-great-grandparents’ problems if you’ll vote for me. It’s all meaningless.
Didn’t it have that effect?
mpChops
I will respectfully say that Congress today has no business apologizing . They didn’t enact the laws, enforce them or anything. I will not nor can I respect any culture or race that cannot, with all that is available to it today , lift itself from the tyranny of it’s own created and self continued victim hood. The institutionalized racism you speak of is gone in this country.
mpChops , please; you are the epitome of sanctimony.
And you absolutely implied that anyone disagreeing with your position is a racist.
No, it doesn’t. Again, the Civil War wasn’t fought to free the Slaves. The emancipation of the slaves were a byproduct of the war.
And yes, slavery ended 150 years ago. And from that time on, the average black guy had the same rights as the average white guy, right?
We are supposed to feel guilty because the Civil War was fought over States Rights instead of Slavery? Wrong righted, life goes on, Black people can run for President…
Because of official US policies that need an apology?
mpChops said:
Evidence? Please show me how I EVER got any kind of job based on Affirmative Action. I never got any kind of “break.” Please explain this to my mother who experienced age discrimination in her 40’s. She’d be curious as to your rationale.
You astonish me. I don’t think we’re reading the same Affirmative Action law. Affirmative Action guarantees that you’ll be given equal consideration for a job, not necessarily hired for one. Some interpret it like quotas, that they feel obligated to hire minorities.
Wow, I didn’t know I was a minority given that women comprise over 50% of the population. Perhaps, my 25% Native American ancestry will do. I’ll bring it up at my next job interview.
Thanks for setting me straight, there, mpChops. I’m sure all women think of themselves as minorities too. Also, thanks for not addressing the real substance of my post, that military spouses (both male and female) are encountering discrimination. When you can explain that one, please let me know.
Yes, but the real question is if it were occurred if the South hadn’t tried to secede?
vickisoup,
Here’s a tissue.
Got anything else on your list? Should the US govt issue formal apologies for all the the mistakes that have been made through the years? Or just ones that were racist? Shouldn’t we make an apology to women because they were denied the vote for so long? Maybe not because they didn’t suffer enough, although some feminists would contend women lived in a state of bondage until relatively recently. If that is the case, we should also extend an apology to all those 18-21 year olds that were denied the vote until about 40 years ago. Weren’t they denied their civil rights also? And on it goes.
As you can see there is no end to the list. Making one apology to one group can only set a series of demands by other grievance groups. And frankly, they are empty gestures unless backed up with concrete action, which is this case will be slide toward reparations.
———
I know exactly why that war was fought and the issues behind it. The states rights they were fighting over included SLAVERY. The practical result was that slavery was ended in all southern states (note not the border states interesting eh?) Don’t talk down to people when you don’t know them. You are coming off as an arrogant SOB.
“We’re sorry that the Democratic Party supported slavery and Jim Crow laws and we would like to thank the Republican Party for being the party of hope, equality, and family values.”
Just a thought how it should be worded.
On a federal level, yes.
No, you’re not supposed to feel guilty. That’s why no one is asking you for an apology, which I mentioned earlier.
Well, poor little mpChops, you just keep on keepin’ on because, as jdaw6 wrote some time back, “When victimhood is your empowerment, recovery is the enemy.”
‘Nuff said.
The “Affirmative Action law”? Emjem, no disrespect but I don’t think you understand the fundamentals of Affirmative Action. Most glaringly being that there is no ‘Affirmative Action law’.
Google it though. At the very least, it’s a good read and while you still may be opposed to it, you’ll know what you’re opposing.
Simple: Yes.
I don’t think apology’s are empty gestures. When you accidentally step on someone’s foot, do you apologize and then slip them a $5? No.
mpchops just wants us all to feel guility for something we didn’t do. Too bad, not going to happen. Congress is being stupid for buying into this crap. This is exactly why they have a 9% approval rating. The economy is staggering under $4 a gallon gas and the most important thing on thier agenda are laws that were removed decades ago. Go figure.
So in 100 years will the House be apologizing to my ancestors for Affirmative Action?
This one is. Worthless, totaly and utterly worthless. A huge waste of time.
I disagree. The federal government allowed blacks, and other groups, to be stripped of rights that the Constitution was supposed to offer, especially given that they could have acted(sooner than they did).
Are you sure? How can you know unless you’re in the group of people being apologized to? Even more so, if you feel that it’s worthless, who’s the say the person next to you feels differently? If one person finds value in this apology, it has worth.
If your great-great-grandfather stepped on someone’s foot, do you have to apologize to their great-great-grandchild – even if your two families had spent 4 years in the 1860s killing each other?
110% yes.
Modern affirmative action program was established by President John F. Kennedy through Executive Order 10925 on March 6, 1961 which established the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity.
President’s Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon strengthened affirmative action efforts by placing greater burdens on employers to demonstrate that they were actively establishing recruitment efforts and hiring opportunities along with advancement programs for minorities within their workforce. In 1972 the Equal Employment Opportunity Act was passed and affirmative action programs began in earnest.
So, there is no law, it is by Executive Order! Affirmative Action does exist and many states have passed laws outlawing it. AZ has such a movement this November.
Oh, no Dave Chappelle’s prediction just may come true.
The present US government has nothing to apologize for… well, the inability to stay out of our pockets might be one….
but otherwise… no apologies for the past…. it’s over.. This is funny I’m Catholic, Irish, Southern born and white…..apologize, hell! If I could become something, anyone can…. get a clue reparationists.
Astonishing. I can’t even think of a response to somebody that holds that opinion. It is wrong on so many levels I won’t even try as I just don’t have enough time.
But I have to say as there will be no apology coming from me, nor do I want my elected represenatives to make one on my behalf.
mpChops , in every session of Congress, there is a majority and a minority party, each bearing proportionate share of ruling power (ostensibly). Your arguments that the “federal government allowed…” certain wrongs ignores the reality that a representative government skews in favor of the majority.
Right now, the federal government is doing plenty that hurts me as an individual, and others within my people group. When the majority shift occurs, those imbalances will be remedied, and the pendulum will swing back into another direction.
It will never, ever be perfectly balanced and life on this planet will never, ever be perfectly fair.
Many who did not enjoy the benefits of Affirmative Action actually suffered under Affirmative Action. Shall those inequities ever be credited toward the debt you demand be repaid? What about others injured by federal government policies?
Get off your high horse.
Isn’t Congress through stepping on all of us? They have not done anything of value this last two years, and they want to add this to their misdeeds?
To Nancy Pelosi, et.al.:Do exclude me from your apology. I have nothing to do with it. If anything, I strongly oppose it.
sonofdy,
Where did I say this?
Can someone apologize to me because I was denied a spot in a Law School due to affirmative action as told to me by the Dean of Admisssions even though my GPA and LSAT’s were higher than others benefiting from the program.
I do not want an apology but jobs, schools, and other things should be based on talent, skills, and education not the color of one’s skin.
It was Dr. King that wanted people judged by the content of their character not by the color of their skin. Affirmative action and any apology is a slap in the face to those that want to realize the American dreams on their own merits.
Nancy is just marking time till her book tour.
AlohaGuy,
If my great-great-grandfather enslaved my neighbor’s great-great-grandfather, I’d mention that I sorry about that. And I would be. I would be sorry that my great-great-grandfather enslaved another person, just as I would be sorry if my great-great-grandfather murdered a schoolfull of children.
My little brother stole from a store. I apologized to the clerk and paid for the item. It’s really not that crazy.
And after this is over, then the cycle of reparations and apologies to those who were passed over on merit for those who were elevated on demerit.
azcop,
I didn’t say Affirmative Action didn’t exist. However, you must agree that the poster’s interpretation of it was incorrect.
No one owes an apology for that actions of others. If they did then we have to apologize to Christian/Jews for the lies of seperation of Church and State, to the Irish for “No Irish need apply”, to all groups, races, genders, and any other person that had their feelings hurt.
The fact is Congressmen/women are suppose to represent their districts and if they are not getting floods of calls to apologize on their behalf then it should not be done.
What a cop-out. Obviously you don’t feel strongly about your opinion, as you don’t feel the need to defend it. Fine.
mpChops,
I was just pointing out that due to excutive order governmental agencies are forced to comply as if there were a law forcing them to since it has the same power over them.
Oh please. Not buying it.
MNUSMCDavid,
The only posters that have mentioned reperations are those that disagree with me, and I’m the “reperationist”. Another weak-minded response.
I am SO VERY sorry for anything that anyone whom I never met, or never heard of and anyone I learned about in my history classes, did to offend, talk negatively about, enslave, or kill anyone else in history, whom I never met or heard about, even though I, nor my family had anything to do with it.
There…happy?
Affirmative Action programs exist to benefit women and minorities. It doesn’t matter if women make up more than half of the U.S. population; they’re considered a historically oppressed group and, yes, they benefit from these laws. If Affirmative Action is half as rampant as your other posts imply, you’ve probably gotten signficant aid for your sex (I personally don’t equate AA with the recruitment of morons who happen to be female or non-white or both, but I’m just following the logic of other posts of yours I’ve seen here on the topic).
Yes, most minimally informed women realize that “women and minorities” is often used as an interchangeable phrase with “diversity.” Companies, organizations and lots of kinds of programs consistently examine their ranks to see the percentages of — yes, there’s a pattern here — women and minorities they employ and include to determine if there’s diversity. Hence you have engineering, mathematics and science-related companies and colleges focused on recruiting greater numbers of women, CEO and executive management programs focused on increasing the profiles of female employees, and more.
I’m just sayin’. It’s part of the definition.
I’m not asking you to buy it. Just to quote me. I specifically said that invididuals should feel no need or obligation to apologize. You stated that I said the exact opposite. Please, quote me.
right_on,
NO…..now the PC police have one if you feel the need to say “Sorry”.
I know you are being sarcastic though.
azcop,
I understand. I only pointed out that it was no “law” to demonstrate that the poster really didn’t have a good understanding of what it was, especially given the other comments that the poster made in the post.
oops….not one….WON!
Sometimes I type faster then I think.
mpChops,
Got it! There are some glaring examples in federal jobs were positions sit vacant due to affirmative action not allowing qualified people to be hired due to quotas.
Also, there are examples where unqualified people are hired. And, affirmative action actually under represents and punishes people of Asian decent especially in Universities admissions.
You aren’t saying it, you are implying it which is really quite cowardly of you. Everyone here can clearly see through your act. Sorry, not buying it.
This is the biggest pile of crap these fools have wallowed in lately. With all the real problems we face these idiots are fiddling with this nonsense. I only wonder how the got ratings as high as 14%.
And reperations are the natural next step. This has been happening in New Zealand for some time and the claims just keep on adding up.
Slavery was a horrible thing. It still is. It’s happening all over the world, but we never talk about it. Human trafficking right here, under your very nose, mpChops. Those who are enslaving these poor people should be held accountable and required to pay for their mistakes.
What if all the energy that is spent arguing over whether the U.S. has apologized enough for something that happened 150+ years ago was spent working to end the plight of those enslaved all over the world right now. What if?
I vote that we move on to do that, and work to free the people who are under true bondage.
Am I sorry? Yes, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, and I’m angry, that we keep having this same *sorry* discussion about what everyone agrees was a bad thing 150 years ago.
There, I said, “I’m sorry.”
Am I all done?
Not a cop-out, just a matter of practicality as there are so many things I see wrong with your view it is hard to know where to start.
But just to demonstrate let us assume that yes, the US govt should apologize for all the mistakes it has made in the past. Who is to decide what is a mistake? The current majority in congress? Or the next one? There are simply too many issues that we cannot agree on, even after many years. Example: Should we apologize for for dropping the atomic bombs? Was it even a mistake? I say no, as would most people on this site. If somebody feels differently are we bound to tie up the congress debating this demand for an apology?
Give ‘em an inch and they’ll expect a mile. Black leaders will say that a Congressional apology is a great starting point, that much more needs to be done, but how much? An “official” apology tells black people that they are owed, even now. Next step, reparations.
CO2 Producer:
And once the claims start coming in, they will grow and grow and grow…
No. You must get down and grovel. And your senator too.
azcop,
Quotas have been illegal since about 1978, particularly on the federal level.
I am pretty sure some boots need licking as well.
Fine. Please quote where I “imply”.
Yeah, sure, right, uh-huh!!!! okay….
Oh please. Start at the top of the page and read anything written by yourself.
They should hang their head in shame for leading like the children they are.
jsr,
I agree that there are many issues that cannot be agreed upon, for example, the atomic bomb issue you brought up. However, 100% of Congress to agree or anything, nothing would ever get done. So all that would be needed is a majority.
Futhermore, there are some issues, such as slavery, which are very clearly now. The reason why my belief that everything should be apologized for is that most things probably wouldn’t get enough votes for apologies, but the ones that did are truly ones that would merit them.
Do you feel that the German government should apologize to Jews and those affected for the holocaust?
Thank you, mpChops, for admitting to your sanctimony.
Who else would the German’s own an apology?
Do the Polish owe an apology and money to the holocaust victums?
Slaverly was a supervised by people long ago and I am going to keep having to $PAY$ for it…
Every person alive in germany from 1945 backwards, yes. Everyone born after that time is not guility.
Ok.
So do you mean this:
“No one is asking you, MNUSMCDavid, AlohaGuy, or any other individual here to apologize. You, as private citizens can be as little or as much racist as you want.”
Or some other phantom message that you refuse to or are unable to identify?
And apology’s are empty….
So you agree that its a waste of time. Good. Thanks.
vickisoup,
Ah, so ignorance is the opposite of sanctimonious, in your opinion? Cool. I’ll take sanctimonious all day long.
sonofdy,
I ask again: Do you feel that the German government should apologize to Jews and those affected for the holocaust?
“…apologies…”; I’m sure that’s what you meant.
It’s kinda crowded up here on that high horse, actually. I’ll get down now.
Abstract:
Thanks, and good post on #71. You’re a smart Cat. We rarely if ever agree with each other. But people like you, Englishqueen, Regulus, BrianNY, 30 pcs, and others that I’m forgetting, represent conservative thought very well.
Regulus:
I’m still afraid that the Raiders are lacking in run defense, but Grandpa Al spent a lot of $$$ and made a lot of moves this off-season. We may have the best starting cornerback tandum in the league. I’m hoping that we’ll control the game with Run-DMC, Fargas, and Bush eating up yards. Russell’s passing attempts should be in the 20-25 range, like early Rothlesberger in Pittsburgh. I’m ready to get the season started. I’m optimistic that we can finish ahead of KS, and maybe, just maybe, those no-good Broncos. Of course, we will likely be among the league leaders in penalties again. Kiffin is on thin ice, although, he’s a fine young coach. Grandpa Al will probably replace him with Lofton, by the time I shut down this computer tonight. It’s hard being a Raider fan. Of course, you know that.
The House should apologize for unfairly taxing some people more than others. A fair tax would resemble 15% flat tax across the board for everyone.
Go, ddhinnyc!!!
I think we have our frontrunner for Veep.
I’d be OK with an apology if I didn’t KNOW there was going to be another every 20 years until the end of time, as yet another generation of kids has been TOLD OVER AND OVER that they’re helpless oppressed victims of evil racists.
But since an apology isn’t going to shut up anyone, black or white, who makes their living telling black people that they’re helpless, hopeless losers who can’t do anything with their sorry lives because of something that happened 200 GD years ago–hell, it’s going to make it worse, it’ll be seen as “proof” that contemporary white people are culpable for things that happened before they were born, and each new generation of black kids is *still owed*–I’m pretty uninterested.
On July 29th, 2008 at 4:19 pm, mpChops said:
Are there any Nazis still governing Germany?
Same answer.
A loser for Republicans. Though the correct response is: what the hell does an apology do?; who gives it?, and who accepts it?, this resolution is the essence of liberalism: all form and no substance. I really could care less about the federal govt apologizing. That slavery was an abomination is not debatable. However, I dont like the language about continuing suffering. That is extremely debatable, and dripping with democrat demagoguery.
They should apologize for not fixing our flawed calendars. You would think that the greatest deliberative body for the greatest civilization in human history could come up with a calendar that doesn’t have to be corrected every four years with a “leap” year (euphemism I’m sure for “white people are evil”).
They should also apologize for all the energy wasted on unpopped popcorn and how it is especially harming minorities and people in foreign cultures.
The Federal government is apologizing for the frustration of careers, and the loss of liberty which “African-Americans continue to suffer”? What loss of liberty? And everyone has career frustrations.
I always found the apologies by the German governmant rather hollow as the atrocities were committed by a previous government, most of whose members were dead, in prison or on the run. I doubt Jews who suffered through the holocaust ever really forgave the German people, and Nazis in particular. What they wanted was to see their tormentors captured and punished. When a Nazi war criminal was hunted down after 20 or 30 years, do you think they were after an apology?
Their next move will be to apologize for the Crusades.
At the risk of sounding “racist” what they are after is for the nazi to be introduced to the business end of a noose. I know, there i go down the black hole of racism. What a black comment.
BTW, I think you owe me an apology for implying that I’m a racist.
Anybody ever notice Pelosi and Reid…they look…well, dead. They’re gray…just sayin’
It never stops! My children’s children will still be apologizing to black people who have no idea what it was like to be a slave or lack opportunities in this country. I’m sick of the pandering! I’m sick of the race mongers! I’m tired of having this crap shoved down my throat! If ANYONE (black, white, man, woman) has a problem with this country feel free to go anyplace else. We don’t need you here.
And just when i thought I had heard it all the “know nothing, do nothing” Congress comes through with more stupidity.