Formal Senate Apology for Slavery and Segregation

[rb336]

for the actual text:


http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/sfo15.htm

[Detroit Stylin]

That was interesting....

[Locke09]

Also interesting, historically speaking, is that the Republicans fought to keep some reparations for the freed slaves, while Andrew Johnson, a "War Democrat", and southern sympathizer, vetoed any legislation that provided such.

Those who remained on the land became sharecroppers, and there are a great many people alive today who can tell you stories about that.

[Detroitej72]

Whats the harm in this bill? IMO, a symbolic gesture like this could help put the past, well, in the past.

To the folks who complain about it, why all the fuss? Its a good way to acknowledge a past wrongdoing, and to help in the healing process.

The Catholic Church, under Pope John Paul II, issued a formal apology a few years back to all who were persecuted by the church throughout its history and it was one of the best gestures from the Vatican in the decade.

[Detroit Stylin]

[b]Also interesting, historically speaking, is that the Republicans fought to keep some reparations for the freed slaves, while Andrew Johnson, a "War Democrat", and southern sympathizer, vetoed any legislation that provided such[\b].

Those who remained on the land became sharecroppers, and there are a great many people alive today who can tell you stories about that.

Also interesting is the fact that up until FDR took office Dems were the Repugs we have today and vise versa.

[Omaha]

Locke09 -- You’re right there are/were Conservative Democrats. You have the Southern Democrats of Andrew Johnson’s day. You have the Bourbon Democrats of later in the 1800s. You have the Dixiecrats of the 1900s. All Conservative in their worldview. Here’s a Conservative opinion from this nation’s first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court…John Jay.

“The people who own this country ought to govern it.�

Jay was pretty clearly saying in his version of Conservative Democracy, voting should be limited to the rich and well born. Which was the intent of our Founding Fathers…they limited the vote to white property-owning males. So those Republicans who want to revert to the original intent of our Founding Fathers are really talking about helping those who already got.

And you are right there were indeed liberal Republicans. Today’s Conservative Republicans don’t like to admit it, but Abe Lincoln would be called a RINO today. He’d probably drummed out of the Republican Party. Here is some of what Abe had to say that could clearly be labeled liberal:

“To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as nearly as possible, is a most worthy object of any good government.�

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.�

“There has never been but one question in all of civilization -- how to keep the few men from saying to the many men, ‘You work and earn bread and we will eat it.’�

“Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much higher consideration.�

Then there were liberal Republican followers of that Maverick and Liberal trust-buster Teddy Roosevelt . Here are some of Teddy’s quotes, the last one stating why he had to leave the GOP and form the Bull Moose Party.

“The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the state because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.�

“It is essential that there should be organizations of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital organizes and therefore labor must organize.�

“I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in another tax which is far more easily collected and far more effective -- a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion and increasing rapidly with the size of the estate.�

“Our democracy is now put to a vital test, for the conflict is between human rights on one side, and on the other, special privilege asserted as property rights. The parting of the ways has come.�

In between there was Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes…NOT a liberal. He and his supporters were able to use the promise of ending Reconstruction by pulling federal troops out of the South in order to swing Democratic votes for his Election. It’s complicated…Google it. Without armed federal troops, the leadership in Southern states could revert to the Black Codes and later Jim Crow do divide and conquer using race...And they did.

There were also liberal tendencies in the GOP with the Eastern Elite of the early to mid 1900s who believed in Noblesse Oblige. Get a load of these two Eisenhower quotes:

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.�

“Today in America, unions have a secure place in our industrial life. Only a handful of reactionaries harbor the ugly thought of breaking unions and depriving working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice. I have no use for those-regardless of their political party-who hold some vain and foolish dream of spinning the clock back to the days when organized labor was huddled, almost as a helpless mass.�

Then came Goldwater and his book The Conscience of a Conservative. He said that the GOP could no longer be “FDR lite.� And the GOP began to change. The tent shrunk...at least ideologically. But not too quickly. Nixon still considered himself a Keynesian when it came to economics. Not so Ronald Reagan. He won big, and today’s Conservatives are trying to return to those glory days. Reagan was an “original intent� conservative…ala John Jay.

Here’s part of an interview with Lee Atwater, part of the Reagan Administration talking about the GOP’s Southern Strategy:
You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.� By 1968 you can't say “nigger�—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,� is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.�

Here is Ken Mehlman, former Republican Committee Chairman, commenting in 2005 on the reality that the GOP really did have a strategy to pursue policies that attracted white southern votes and ignored African-American votes:

“Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.�

It is clear to me that both sides have had [[and have) bigots, many of whom were racists. To confuse things more, conservatives and liberals also come in both genders and all colors. Thurgood Marshall, a famous liberal, one time interestingly commented that “A Black snake will bite you just the same as a White snake".

So despite all the purity tests that are conducted here by DY posters the reality is that it’s hard to claim one political party is pure while the other is tainted.

But there is at least one kind of Conservative that I am proud to be associated with…a Colbert Conservative. I know, as a Colbert Conservative, I don’t discriminate in any way based on color or gender…because like the great Stephen Colbert…I can’t see color, or gender for that matter. When I walk up to a person and begin a conversation I may have to ask if I am addressing a man or a woman just so that I can use the appropriate pronouns.

It is a small difficulty, but one that both Stephen and I proudly share.

.

[ccbatson]

Firstandten...keep an eye on those interest rates [[up 1.5 points in the last 2 months), and oil [[up 20 dollars a barrel). More effective still is to apply a basic economic principle...when you spend/borrow/print hiuge amounts of money, you must see a rise in interest rates in order for anybody to buy your bonds, the dollar goes south [[hence inflation), and you flood the market with dollars that, by supply and demand, MEANS inflation is coming.

[Locke09]

Omaha, I just want to say that was a very educational post. And I like being educated.

[Omaha]

Locke09 – Thank you. I too have learned a lot here at DY. If you keep your eyes, ears, and mind open, there is always something worthwhile to pick up…even if it’s NOT to be baited in to feeding the self-absorbed posters every time you read one of his/her one or two liners.

Equally important is to use the knowledge, wherever you pick it up, to make this a better world in which to live. That’s what my hero Stephen Colbert does.

[gibran]

When we talk of freedom and opportunity for all nations, the mocking paradoxes in our own society become so clear they can no longer be ignored.
Wendell Willkie

when are are truly equal in our allocation of resources then we can hold all of our fellow countries to the same standards...

[gumby]

so go after sherman's decendants

Hey leave us Shermans out of this.

General Sherman fought for the good side remember.

Plus I don't have 40 acres and a mule to give away. I only have 5000 sq ft and an Oldsmobile.

[mjs]

You'd show that you care about the environment and America if you traded that Oldsmobile in for a new American made mule.

[sarge]

Good stuff, Omaha!

[GPCharles]

No one in my family on either side was her before 1890. Worked in W Va coal mines for 2 generations. Are we obligated to join in the apology and/or reparations?

[Danny]

A formal senate wants to apologize and lots of blacks don't get reparation money or 40 acres and a mule.

[rb336]

No one in my family on either side was her before 1890. Worked in W Va coal mines for 2 generations. Are we obligated to join in the apology and/or reparations?

My family had a sizeable estate in NY seized for assisting in the escape to Canada. Can we get our land back?

[jt1]

"No one in my family on either side was her before 1890. Worked in W Va coal mines for 2 generations. Are we obligated to join in the apology and/or reparations? "

Christ, how difficult is this. They are apologizing for past sins of the country, not individuals.

It's funny how more people are upset about this than any of the existing institutional racism that still exists.

[ejames01]

Thanks, jt1

There always has to be someone to take the time to explain the issues to the less intelligent members of our little community.

"No one in my family on either side was her before 1890. Worked in W Va coal mines for 2 generations. Are we obligated to join in the apology and/or reparations? "

Christ, how difficult is this. They are apologizing for past sins of the country, not individuals.

It's funny how more people are upset about this than any of the existing institutional racism that still exists.

[ccbatson]

No problem apologizing....just don't do further harm to the descendants by giving reparations [[another word for welfare in this case).

[Locke09]

"No one in my family on either side was her before 1890. Worked in W Va coal mines for 2 generations. Are we obligated to join in the apology and/or reparations? "

Christ, how difficult is this. They are apologizing for past sins of the country, not individuals.

It's funny how more people are upset about this than any of the existing institutional racism that still exists.

Funny and sad at the same time.

[ccbatson]

The reason it passed unanimously is that it is just a useless declaration.

[Detroitej72]

The reason it passed unanimously is that it is just a useless declaration.

Yes but now they can report to their constituents that they supported this, thus getting future votes.

[rb336]

It's funny how more people are upset about this than any of the existing institutional racism that still exists.

they probably deny that it does

[ccbatson]

You don't think this will get votes do you? How could it? Everyone voted in favor of it.