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.

[xorbie]

Virgina isn't just "people at any given point in time" though. Society is more than merely a sum of its parts.

[elwoodblues]

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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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This is one of the most disingenuous arguments coming from someone who constantly rails against the government. You can't have it both ways...either the government/state is a unique entity that can do both good and bad things or it isn't.

The US isn't taxing you...individual people are. The state US didn't invade Iraq...individual people did. Virginia didn't do anything wrong in the slave trade...individual people did. The Virginia/"the government"/ABC corporation are all (appropriately so) treated as "people" albeit in a slightly different way...they are people whose life can theoretically last in perpetuity.

[pvn]

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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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This is one of the most disingenuous arguments coming from someone who constantly rails against the government. You can't have it both ways...either the government/state is a unique entity that can do both good and bad things or it isn't.

The US isn't taxing you...individual people are. The state US didn't invade Iraq...individual people did. Virginia didn't do anything wrong in the slave trade...individual people did. The Virginia/"the government"/ABC corporation are all (appropriately so) treated as "people" albeit in a slightly different way...they are people whose life can theoretically last in perpetuity.

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What's disingenious? I don't care if "the US" is taxing me or "individual people" are, the act is still objectionable. That doesn't mean I'm interested in blaming the first scapegoat I can get my hands on.

[bobman0330]

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/...O7Sg8jOnqs0NUE

Why has it become so politically correct and almost expected for people in public office to try to act as if slavery is something that we, in the 21st century somehow need to apologize for, as if we had anything to do with it?

And furthermore; I will submit to you that slavery, for all its evil, was a very good thing for America, and for black people in the long run..... and before you jump on me for making such an "ignorant, racist" statement, hear me out, because my point is hardly a racist one...

There's one fact that people who live by the dogma of political correctness seem to be ignoring here; without slavery there are NO black people in America.... and who wouldn't agree (besides a true racist) that such a thing would be to the detriment of our country?

Had slavery never happened there would be no Martin Luther King Jr. No Mohhammed Ali, no Hariet Tubman, no Jazz, no Rock n, roll... the NFL and NBA would be really lame, and there would be no peanut butter (and I really like peanut butter) America has allowed people of African dissent the opportunity to thrive, and they have changed the very fabric of our society and culture in so many ways that it's hard to imagine what our country would be like if it was lilly white

So Why then, are we apologizing for slavery? Shouldn't we be appreciating it for all the wonderful things its done for our country, and for the Africans that were brought here?

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You're one sick bastard. You do realize that millions and millions of people were brutally held in servitude, killed, beaten, raped, humiliated, etc., for two hundred years, right? If you just decided that, overall, slavery had had a positive impact, that would be pretty sick. But you're actually claiming there's nothing to express regret for? That's disgusting.

[ArtMonkRules]

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You're one sick bastard. You do realize that millions and millions of people were brutally held in servitude, killed, beaten, raped, humiliated, etc., for two hundred years, right? If you just decided that, overall, slavery had had a positive impact, that would be pretty sick. But you're actually claiming there's nothing to express regret for? That's disgusting.

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Um no..... I don't have to express regret or apologize for slavery, because I didn't have anything to do with it... and neither did my elected representatives.... And to make the argument that something good can't come from an evil act, or that an evil institution once abolished can't lead to positive results of such a magnitude that they far exceed the evil that precipitated them is absurd.

[ShakeZula06]

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to make the argument that something good can't come from an evil act, or that an evil institution once abolished can't lead to positive results of such a magnitude that they far exceed the evil that precipitated them is absurd.


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He's not saying that. He's saying that you basically claiming that slavery has been +EV for black people is a ridiculous, ignorant, disgusting, and perhaps most importantly a false statement.

[bobman0330]

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You're one sick bastard. You do realize that millions and millions of people were brutally held in servitude, killed, beaten, raped, humiliated, etc., for two hundred years, right? If you just decided that, overall, slavery had had a positive impact, that would be pretty sick. But you're actually claiming there's nothing to express regret for? That's disgusting.

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Um no..... I don't have to express regret or apologize for slavery, because I didn't have anything to do with it... and neither did my elected representatives.... And to make the argument that something good can't come from an evil act, or that an evil institution once abolished can't lead to positive results of such a magnitude that they far exceed the evil that precipitated them is absurd.

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Good for you. I don't feel personally guilty or responsible for slavery either. That's not what I objected to in your post. The disgusting thing you said was "Shouldn't we be appreciating [slavery] for all the wonderful things its done for our country, and for the Africans that were brought here?"

First of all, the assertion that the world is better with slavery than without it is pretty ridiculous. Sure, millions of slaves were brutalized for their entire lives, etc., but hey, we have jazz! Riiight... Second, even if that assertion is true, that doesn't make slavery any less evil.

And even if you are blameless, the state of Virginia certainly is not. Besides being at the forefront of promoting the institution of slavery while it existed, it also, within living memory, promoted racist policies designed to perpetuate the inferior economic status of ex-slaves. And to make it even more reasonable, they're not even apologizing, they're expressing regret.

[ShakeZula06]

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without slavery there are NO black people in America

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Yes, because history has shown that America isn't a place that has taken in millions of immigrants. I can't imagine a way that Africans could have gotten into America without first forcibly bringing them over and enslaving them for generations.

[Angeleyes]

To express regret of slavery this many years later is rediculous. It would be more appropriate to express regret of more recent racist policies that some of them may actually have contributed to.