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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > March > 16 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSlavery apology gains new support
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State lawmakers who are seeking an apology over Georgia’s role in slavery say they have gained a powerful Republican ally who will introduce a resolution in the Senate.
State Rep. Al Williams (D-Midway) said he and Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) are preparing to introduce identical resolutions in the House and Senate that seek reconciliation over Georgia’s history with slavery.
The exact wording for the resolutions has not yet been worked out, Williams said.
Williams and Johnson met with Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) and Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond this afternoon about the legislation. Johnson invited Thurmond to help facilitate the meeting.
Johnson’s involvement comes as the Senate is considering declaring April to be Confederate History and Heritage Month, a development that has offended civil rights leaders.
“It is hard to commemorate the Civil War and not talk about slavery,” said Williams, who said he is the great-grandson of a slave.
Williams said he doesn’t plan to introduce his resolution Monday as he originally planned because it still needs work.
“We are not there yet,” said Williams, the head of Georgia’s Legislative Black Caucus whose district overlaps with Johnson’s.
Johnson could not be immediately reached for comment today. But he was preparing to talk about his plans during a news conference later in the afternoon.
Before today, Williams was circulating a four-page draft of a proposed resolution that would acknowledge the history of slavery in America “with contrition” and call for “reconciliations” among all Georgians.
The draft traces the history of slavery from ancient times to the arrival of slaves in Jamestown. It also refers to slavery’s role in the Civil War, the subsequent lynchings of African-Americans and the system of Jim Crow laws that were designed to enforce racial segregation.
“In Georgia,” the resolution reads, “the vestiges of slavery are ever before African-American citizens, from the overt racism of hate groups to the subtle racism encountered when requesting health care, transacting business, buying a home, seeking quality public education and college admission, and enduring pretextual traffic stops and other indignities.”
Williams announced last week he would introduce the resolution after the Georgia NAACP called on Gov. Sonny Perdue to issue an apology for the state’s role in slavery and Jim Crow laws. Perdue has so far declined to comment on the NAACP’s request.
“It’s symbolic. But it shows that we as legislators will not ignore the existence of this evil,” Williams, head of Georgia’s Legislative Black Caucus, said of the draft in an interview earlier this week. “Some of the great healings of all time come about because of symbolic gestures.”
Williams said he modeled his resolution on one that passed the Virginia legislature late last month. But unlike Williams’ resolution, the Virginia legislation uses the words “profound regret” in connection with slavery.
The chances of Williams’ resolution passing the House this year appear slim, however, since it is meeting with resistance from House Republican leaders who say they are concerned about apologizing for something they were not involved in. Plus, Williams has little time to move his resolution through the Legislature, which has passed day 27 of its 40-day session.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Categories: politics
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By Michelle Harrington
March 16, 2007 2:58 PM | Link to this
I cannot believe the Republicans who say they do not want to apologize for something they had nothing to do with (slavery). Much of the wealth that was passed down to them was a result of slave labor. I think they are hypocrites and don’t want to aplogize because they are not sorry. I say, keep your apology if it isn’t sincere. Just be aware that lots of minorities in this state are registered voters and not ALL Democrats.
By Alex
March 16, 2007 3:09 PM | Link to this
Amazing how according to the above story House “Republicans” don’t want to apologize for something they were not involved in (e.g., slavery), yet those same “Republicans” want to honor the Confederacy, which fought for slavery, with a history month. If I hadn’t been living in this state for over 11 years now (from Illinois), I wouldn’t have believed it. Notice how it’s not the “South” or the “Civil War” that these “Republicans” are concerned with. It’s specifically the “Confederacy” that they wish to honor. Not only does such a month dishonor all African-Americans, it dishonors all the hundreds of thousands of Union dead, including Abraham Lincoln himself.
By Robert Toombs
March 19, 2007 8:59 AM | Link to this
Slavery existed in the United States 1776-1865. (89 years)
Slavery existed in the Confederate States 1861-1865. (4 years)
Slavery did not begin or end in the United States. It goes back thousands of years and continues to this day, primarily in Africa.
There are no slaves alive today, nor are there any living slave owners or slave auctioneers.
There is no apology needed. It would be meaningless as the actual slaves are long dead.
It would appear to me that the descendants of slaves, instead of looking for an apology and reparations, would be thanking their slave ancestors for the suffering and sacrifices they made to enable their descendants a quality of life in America, that could never be found in Africa even to this day.
By PHC H. Stan Boring, USN (Ret.)
March 19, 2007 9:12 AM | Link to this
No one with any sense of history denies that slavery was wrong. However, it was not strictly a southern wrong. The vast majority of slaves transported from Africa traveled in U.S. flagged vessels, and were bought from Africans, to whom slavery was a matter of war and economics. As a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer, I swore to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States; but my great grandfather and two great uncles fought for the Confederacy. They did not own any slaves. They fought to protect their homes from invasion. My great grandfather died of disease in 1862. My great uncles were both captured and spent the last year of the war in Northern prison camps. The one who was wounded was kept at Camp Douglas, which had a reputation as bad as Andersonville. Their suffering and sacrifice deserves to be honored and remembered. Though slavery was a great factor in the war, it was not the only one. Until 1863, the major aim of Lincoln was to restore the union. He said to do that he would keep slavery, which was common in many Northern states, and remained so until after the war. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves of Southern states’ areas under control of the Union Armies. It freed no slave in Northern or border states. In fact, Lincoln fired U.S. General John C. Fremont for issuing his own emancipation proclamation in Missouri. Lincoln said he did not want to upset his Southern Union friends. Passing a bill to honor the Confederacy will only codify what has been done for years by proclamation. It would assure the study of all sides of our history, good and bad, and not just the politically correct version.
By Hal Jackson
March 19, 2007 11:17 AM | Link to this
If you would like to learn something about slavery, read the book, “Slavery and the U.S. Government” by a Mr. Stanley K. Lott, American Literary Press,Inc. Baltimore, Md. 21236 I would like to print, from the Introduction of Mr. Lotts book: “My name is Stanley K. Lott. I was born and raised in Saluda, S.C. I am a Black Southern American. My reason for writing this book is to help people to understand the role played in supporting and sustaining U.S. slavery and the coastwise slave trade. Since I have found the real truth about slavery and the slave trade I feel some relief. A black person or anybody does not need excess, or emotional baggage or garbage in their lives. Slavery was well protected by the Constitution of the United States, the U.S. Federal Governments, Supreme Court, and the American Flag.” And that’s just part of his introduction. Mr. Lott tells you in this book, “don’t take my word for it, look it up yourself,” and he gives you the website as to where you can look. This book will also explan the reason of the War of Northern Aggression, and why it was a War of Nothern aggression.
By Keon
March 19, 2007 12:20 PM | Link to this
Opponents do not want to apologize for slavery mainly because of the possibility of reparations (an apology for a wrong action is empty with out actions/restitution). An admittance of wrong doing also means admittance of consequences for said wrong doing. I am an African American and I am mixed about the whole ideal of apology and reparations. While I believe an apology is WARRANTED and REPARATIONS, I’m pragmatic in that it will most likely not be coming anytime soon and that the form of it is debatable (many people fail to realize that reparation may not be in the form or actual dollars but in other less tangible things such as housing, education and or healthcare.)
However the issue of reparations is very interesting to say the least.
While the actual people who were involved are not alive, people who benefited or suffered indirectly are still alive as is the state/entity is
By Hal Jackson
March 19, 2007 1:29 PM | Link to this
I think, as Mr. Robert Tooombs stated, an apology is unless, as the former slaves are not here to accept or deny the apology. Now as “Keon” says he/she thinks reparations are due the slaves, I do also, but only to the ones living today. They got the same “reparation” that the native Indians got when this government took their land,(which employed the slaves)forced them on reservations, and treated them like there were dogs, The U.S. Government didn’t allow them to work the fertile lands, no reservation in this country had fertile land, the Cherokee’s had oil on their reservation in Oklahoma, but the government found a way to take advanage of their lask of education and steal the oil back from them. Slavery was the best thing that ever happened to the black man, had it not been for slavery, the black man would still be Africa, starving, and possibly living in slavery as it’s still alive there. I haven’t seen any blacks going back to africa stay.
By jason
March 19, 2007 4:41 PM | Link to this
You know I am not a big fan the whole apology for slavery thing. Not that we shouldn’t do it, but what good does it really do. With that said, most of the southern heritage neo-confederate blow hard crowd will ridicule blacks for wanting an apology for nearly two hundred and fifty years of slavery, including over one hundred and twenty years of slavery in our state, but they can’t get over their nostalgia for Confederacy. Don’t tell blacks to get over slavery if you can’t get over the saddest chapter in our states history. Many Georgians who scoff at a slavery apology want to have a Confederate History Month. I have heard Germany is doing a Nazi History Month, and that South Afica is going to make October Aparthied Heritage month. We should preserve the past, even our darkest hours, but to glorify the confederacy is ignorant. Maybe blacks and the NAACP aren’t the people who really need to “GET OVER IT.”
*BTW I AM A WHITE NATIVE GEORGIAN WHO IS A DESCENDANT OF CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS
By stanley k. lott
March 30, 2007 11:36 AM | Link to this
please check out my website and books: www.stanleylott.com and www.clik.to/sklott
By stanley k. lott
March 30, 2007 11:36 AM | Link to this
please check out my website and books: www.stanleylott.com and www.clik.to/sklott