Virginia apologizes for slavery... why?

[Poofler]

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Virginia played a big part in the slave trade in this country. They manned up and apologized for their indiscretions. Let's hope other states follow suit.

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"Virginia" didn't play any part in the slave trade. People did. Those people are dead. The people that are living today did not play any part in it. The people who apologized apologized for someone else's actions.

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Umm.... no. Virginia played a part in the slave trade by using state money to help enforce slavery. (ie if a slave ran away you could call the police to get him/her back)

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You missed his point. "Virginia" is just *people* at any given point in time. When we say "Virginia" did so and so, we mean the *people* of Virginia did so and so. Those people, the voters and the officials, are now dead. The current *people* that constitute Virginia are no more at fault for slavery than they are for Saddam or Pol-Pot. An apology seems completely meaningless to me.