In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Apologize for leaving Vietnam, not for slavery

Jill

Because slavery happened 200 years ago, and besides, we’ve made a bunch of movies about it! Isn’t that enough of an apology?

After the bloodiest conflict in American history, a century and a half of struggle, billions of dollars in government redistribution of wealth including affirmative action, education, set asides, quotas, job training programs, urban renewal and outreach efforts; hundreds of plays and movies; thousands of television programs, millions of newspaper and magazine articles, operas, novels, music, ballets, Black History Month, and so on, Mr. Lewis thinks we need an “official” condemnation of slavery? Integrity leaves off where pointless posturing begins. .

Hey, decendents of slaves — we gave you ballets! Now get over it.

Instead, the Senate should apologize to the South Vietnamese for pulling American troops out of Vietnam

I’m speechless.

19 thoughts on Apologize for leaving Vietnam, not for slavery

  1. Holy moly!

    I have never grasped the reasoning behind this grudging attitude towards Official Apologies. Regardless of their actual efficacy, who could possibly be hurt by an apology, except a few gnarly old bigots? Theoretically, apologies can make people feel a little better, and they don’t, as Huck Finn said, cost nothin’. But particularly bizarro is this reluctance–largely the affliction of Southern politicians–to demur on the subject of lynching. “I’m your senator, and I’m pro-lynching!” Nice.

  2. I particularly love the suggestion that education was some sort of gift bestowed upon African-Americans as compensation for slavery. Golly. And here I was thinking that education was a right of citizenship, that African-Americans were formally denied that right until 50 years ago, that a lot of heroic black children faced intimidation and violence to exercise their right to equal education, and that many black kids still attend de facto separate and unequal institutions.

    I’m not crazy about official apologies: I think they sometimes provide an illusion of taking responsibility without actually demanding anything of the government that apologizes. But that’s an entirely different kind of critique.

  3. Regardless of their actual efficacy, who could possibly be hurt by an apology, except a few gnarly old bigots? Theoretically, apologies can make people feel a little better, and they don’t, as Huck Finn said, cost nothin’.

    Of course they cost somethin’. They’re an admission of fault and guilt. No one alive today is guilty for American slavery, and no one alive today is owed an apology for it.

  4. Shankar, the legacy of slavery lives on in our economic and social structures. An official acknowlegement of this would be a beginning to rectifying those who live with that legacy.

  5. No one alive today is guilty for American slavery, and no one alive today is owed an apology for it.

    Hell, my great-great grandfather – and his father – both fought to end slavery.

    But they didn’t turn black as a result, and they were able to return home and reap at least a few of the benefits of being the favored race in a racially stratified nation.

    I have no problem with the US apologizing for slavery. So it’s an admission of fault and guilt. I think we as a nation can bear up under the strain.

  6. Shankar, the legacy of slavery lives on in our economic and social structures. An official acknowlegement of this would be a beginning to rectifying those who live with that legacy.

    How would an official apology begin to rectify that? An official apology is just words, words, words–from a group of people who aren’t even remotely responsible, at that. One would hope that the billions upon billions of dollars that are spent on social programs are the beginning of helping those who live with that legacy.

    The larger point is that there are a lot of people out there who are living under the socioeconomic consequences of a lot of different injustices. Rather than apologizing for all of them, it’d be a better use of time and political capital to focus on helping them up, rather than apologizing that they’re down.

  7. I don’t disagree that most gov’t apologies are words only, but those words do mean something to those of us told we are ridiculous for pointing out the pink elephant in the room. Nonetheless, if the government officially acknowledges a disparity they may then be held accountable for not addressing it with policy. In the meantime, they’ve managed to pretend it doesn’t exist at all.

  8. There are several corporations and institutions which wouldn’t have been created if it weren’t for slavery, wouldn’t have grown if it weren’t for slavery. Aetna, a large insurance company, started out by insuring slaves. Now they’re huge. If it weren’t for slavery, it’s quite possible that company wouldn’t be as large or as popular as it is today.

    What about all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of slaveowners who own property which used to be plantations while the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those slaves have no inherited family property to support them might disagree that slavery has left no lasting effect in their lives.

    This apology is an apology which should have happened 150 years ago. We’ve apologized for interning the Japanese 60 years ago, after most of the folks who were interned died. But we can’t apologize for hundreds of years of abuse, violence, murder, neglect?

  9. Regardless, none of Aetna’s employees, owners, or stockholders were alive when slavery occured. They are not guilty of those atrocities.

    And even if they are today benefiting from the economic windfalls of slavery, they need not apologize for that. Unless you’re a fervent believer in Original Sin.

  10. How would an official apology begin to rectify that? An official apology is just words, words, words–from a group of people who aren’t even remotely responsible, at that. One would hope that the billions upon billions of dollars that are spent on social programs are the beginning of helping those who live with that legacy.

    I agree, Shankar, that an offical apology of just words dosen’t do much. But coming from the united states government, which allowed slavery to happen, its an admittance that the act of slavery was wrong. People always say, “of course we know that slavery is wrong- any idiot knows that”. Then if that’s the case, it shouldn’t be a big deal for the U.S. government to say, “you know what- slavery was really fucked up and as the current represenatives of the government that allowed it to happen, we’re sorry”. Ideally, that apology would be backed up with actions- a greater focus on correcting many of the inequalites that have come about as a direct result of slavery. Also, think about how bad it looks for the U.S. to judge others for their human rights violations when we so clearly ignore our own? I feel that the federal government’s refusal to acknowledge that slavery was wrong via apology is simply wrong, irresponsible, and hypocritical.

  11. And even if they are today benefiting from the economic windfalls of slavery, they need not apologize for that. Unless you’re a fervent believer in Original Sin.

    I don’t want to speak for anyone else here, but I think the idea is to have the federal government apologize for the crime of slavery. While none of them were alive for it, as representatives of that body, they have a direct responsibilty for an apology. And an apology might also help more Americans acknowledge that yes, they are at an advantage due to the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. Being able to recognize that you have privelage is the first step toward creating constructive dialouge and meaningful solutions regarding inequality.

  12. We as a nation feel entitled to claim a kind of descendant credit for things like the Mayflower voyage, the American Revolution, and the formulation of the Bill of Rights. My parents and grandparents are proud that their ancestors immigrated from Ireland and Scotland, even though they’ve never seen the inside of steerage or been forced to work in a sweatshop. The columnist thought we should be really proud of the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement. Why is there not a parallel obligation to acknowledge national crimes and failures, particularly those that had such an enormous impact on the country that we live in now?

  13. And even if they are today benefiting from the economic windfalls of slavery, they need not apologize for that.

    I’m a little stunned by this. Do you honestly, really believe that?

  14. I’m a little stunned by this. Do you honestly, really believe that?

    Yes, I really, honestly, do. No one alive today had anything to do with slavery. It is not their fault. They need not apologize.

    That doesn’t mean they can’t feel a drive to make things better, or to learn from the mistakes of the past. But there’s no obligation to feel guilt or apologize for something that you didn’t do. Culpability is not genetically inheritable.

  15. But responsibility absolutely is. It’s not that Sen. Lott,* et al., will be expected to sit around beating their breasts in shame for the privilege of being born white and several-generations-free.

    We didn’t inherit guilt, precisely–we inherited the fact of a crime that, in its time, was widely accepted as both moral and just. America was founded as a slave-holding nation. America spent years fighting to remain a slave-holding nation. America continues to be profoundly affected by the past reality of slavery and the current reality of racism. It’s not an admission of personal guilt. It’s not a formal acceptance of ancestral guilt. It’s a formal rejection of the culpable blindness of our ancestors.

    *Okay, bad example.

  16. But responsibility absolutely is.

    Should you be held accountable if your parents accrue massive debt and then pass away? Are you responsible for the family of someone a now-dead family member murdered?

    If you are a liberal, you probably believe that you have a responsilibity to your fellow citizens to help them if they’re hard up. That is the responsibility that we have to those still living under the legacy of slavery.

    If after the Civil War, everything between the former slave owners and their former slaves was suddenly peachy, and American blacks were immediately accepted as full partners into American society, we wouldn’t be having this debate. You can’t fix slavery by apologizing about it. But there are things the government can do, today, to address the poverty of people whose lives have been affected by it. Apologizing ain’t one of them.

  17. Should you be held accountable if your parents accrue massive debt and then pass away? Are you responsible for the family of someone a now-dead family member murdered?

    Are you sure you want to make these analogies? The law does give you some responsibility for the former, assuming you inherited anything from your parents. The debts your parents accrue in life supercede their bequests to you, however deserving you are.

    As far as the latter…we aren’t talking about being financially or legally responsible for the upkeep of African-Americans everywhere, just acknowledging that wrong was done that continues to have repercussions. Sort of like acknowledging that lynching was bad: obvious, painless.

    If after the Civil War, everything between the former slave owners and their former slaves was suddenly peachy, and American blacks were immediately accepted as full partners into American society, we wouldn’t be having this debate.

    Why would a society prepared to move on from owning human beings be resistant to acknowledging the human cost of ownership of human beings? I think, furthermore, that we absolutely would be having this discussion if there had been no apology. You can’t say that an apology and reparations are two totally different things and then turn around and say that the latter voids obligation for the former.

    You can’t fix slavery by apologizing about it.

    Is that your understanding of the purpose of this apology?

  18. If you inherit stolen money, why should you be allowed to keep it? Not to mention, the money now has interest on it. Refusing to apologize just adds insult to injury. If you can’t admit a wrong, you can’t fix it.

  19. What percentage of Americans owned slaves?

    What percentage of Americans fought to free the slaves?

    What percentage of Americans conspired to keep Blacks as second class citizens?

    If an apology is owed for anything, it is owed for the discrimination suffered after they were freed and that continues in some forms till today.

    By the way, what percentage of Americans live on land that was stolen from the Native-Americans?

    How many treaties made with the Indian Nations has the United States Government actually kept?

Comments are currently closed.