2008 Woodie Awards
Should Alabama apologize for its role in slavery?
Present should not apologize for past
Johanneson Rubin
Contributing Writer
Issue date: 3/26/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
A few weeks ago, the state of Virginia officially apologized for its role in slavery. Should the state of Alabama follow suit and apologize as well?
I am of the opinion that it should not, as I feel, frankly, that such an apology would be pointless, seeing as it would not be from the practitioners of slavery themselves, who have long been deceased. The current generation should not apologize for a previous generation's transgressions.
American civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, and I share a similar opinion on this matter. Merely a generation after the 13th Amendment, which officially abolished slavery, was ratified in 1865, Du Bois said, "The present generation of Southerners are not responsible for the past, and they should not be blindly hated or blamed for it." The most appropriate time for an apology would certainly not be 142 years after slavery was abolished in the United States. In addition, I do not believe that the state of Alabama should have issued an apology in 1865, nor do I believe that they should now. Similar to what I stated above, a state government apologizing in 1865 for its role in slavery would also be meaningless, as, even then, slavery of people of African descent had become a terrible wrong as a result of its introduction to the North American continent at Jamestown, Va., in 1619, more than 150 years before the conception of the United States.
It is this generation that should apologize, as they set forth a sequence of events that allowed slavery to cause the nation to nearly implode on itself during the Civil War.
The people of 1865 should have, however, prohibited slavery from advancing to as severe a practice as it had become long before the 13th Amendment was ratified.
It is true that slavery, in part, can be traced back to beginning in Africa thousands of years ago. I clarify that slavery partially began in Africa, seeing as there are, and have been, many types of slavery throughout the world; slavery practiced in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago, in which peasants led better lives as slaves than as free persons, is incomparable to our own. However, slavery that plagued the United States is undeniably the most severe case that the world has ever seen. Until 1865, whites, American Indians and free blacks legally enslaved people of African descent, and treatment of slaves was the harshest under American jurisdiction as it ever had been.
Taking into consideration that slavery in itself is not an issue that any state government of the United States should be held responsible for, the present-day politicians of the state of Alabama should not be expected to apologize on behalf of their predecessors' actions.
I am of the opinion that it should not, as I feel, frankly, that such an apology would be pointless, seeing as it would not be from the practitioners of slavery themselves, who have long been deceased. The current generation should not apologize for a previous generation's transgressions.
American civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, and I share a similar opinion on this matter. Merely a generation after the 13th Amendment, which officially abolished slavery, was ratified in 1865, Du Bois said, "The present generation of Southerners are not responsible for the past, and they should not be blindly hated or blamed for it." The most appropriate time for an apology would certainly not be 142 years after slavery was abolished in the United States. In addition, I do not believe that the state of Alabama should have issued an apology in 1865, nor do I believe that they should now. Similar to what I stated above, a state government apologizing in 1865 for its role in slavery would also be meaningless, as, even then, slavery of people of African descent had become a terrible wrong as a result of its introduction to the North American continent at Jamestown, Va., in 1619, more than 150 years before the conception of the United States.
It is this generation that should apologize, as they set forth a sequence of events that allowed slavery to cause the nation to nearly implode on itself during the Civil War.
The people of 1865 should have, however, prohibited slavery from advancing to as severe a practice as it had become long before the 13th Amendment was ratified.
It is true that slavery, in part, can be traced back to beginning in Africa thousands of years ago. I clarify that slavery partially began in Africa, seeing as there are, and have been, many types of slavery throughout the world; slavery practiced in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago, in which peasants led better lives as slaves than as free persons, is incomparable to our own. However, slavery that plagued the United States is undeniably the most severe case that the world has ever seen. Until 1865, whites, American Indians and free blacks legally enslaved people of African descent, and treatment of slaves was the harshest under American jurisdiction as it ever had been.
Taking into consideration that slavery in itself is not an issue that any state government of the United States should be held responsible for, the present-day politicians of the state of Alabama should not be expected to apologize on behalf of their predecessors' actions.
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