Is slavery apology what Va. needs?

[Frenchy]

What is up with this question? Did some one need air time on TV or is some one trying to stir the pot? Slavery has been gone for years has it not? How could I or any one alive today apologize for some thing than happened over 100 years ago? Is any one still alive that may have had slaves back then? How about we ask for an apology for racism? Or even an apology for Reverse Racism? Let’s drop this Political correctness and see it for what it really is. A “minority”(?) asking to be recognized. I question the word Minority, because most of the known racial minorities are actually majorities now, supported in many cases by the “majority” who is in fact a minority of hard working TAX paying Americans. How about America tries this for a while, you can’t vote unless you have worked 5 years in a row with proof by your Tax records?
You can’t claim that you are any thing but American if you want to be recognized in the US. Not African American, not anything before American, just AMERICAN!
You get caught doing some thing wrong; you get the maximum the law allows for that crime. Not a slap on the wrists or parole.
You do reverse racism; you get the same as if you did racism. After all, what is the difference?
I could go on for hours here about the injustice people have and injustices people see…
The real injustice I see is that people are tying up life with things that you can’t change, you cant change American History, why even try? Heck want some one to apologize? Give them a reason they where they have a cause to Apologize, not some thing their forefathers did.

[PA Rifleman]

What I'm trying to understand is why it's viewed as a uniquely U.S. fault or problem, not the Spanish, English, Portugese and all the other nations that brought them here. Nor are the intrinsic african tribes that took rivals into slavery & sold them to the European slave traders.

Deos this sound like selective retribution to anyone else?

[xflyboy]

[You get caught doing some thing wrong; you get the maximum the law allows for that crime. Not a slap on the wrists or parole.
You do reverse racism; you get the same as if you did racism. After all, what is the difference?
I could go on for hours here about the injustice people have and injustices people see…

i agree with you frenchy
they expect us to hand them a life on a silver platter that we work hard to pay for
and by they i mean "anyone" who thinks the gov OWES them everything.

[whoshisface]

That's a wives tale, minorities are still minorities, the only majority are white people.

Unless you consider italian, polish, russian, french, etc.. minorities, which I don't think we care much about since most americans are at least second generation now...

66.923% of Americans are white, there is no way any minority or collection of minorities, could be considered a majority, unless you think whites should be broken up into other nationalities.

Hispanics and Blacks are the second and third largest races (if you consider being hispanic a race) , 14.4% & 13.4% ,respectively.

Despite the racist idiots spreading their BS, the minorities really don't multiply like flies.

And just for clarification the largest race of people on welfare that are stealing the hard working mans money are...drum-roll... White

Since we're on the subject, welfare is incredibly ridiculously low. $800 for a family of four... WTF is that supposed to buy? I'm all for making sure no one abuses the system and I'm not a communist. However a good welfare system to help keep people on there feet when facing hard times is good. I'm not for giving everyone a handout for nothing, I'm for giving them insurance, you pay a tax for insurance that if you die or your spouse gets seriously injured or losses their job for a while that you'll be given enough time to recoup.

Anyone complaining about slavery now needs to just grow up. We lost nearly 600,000 people in the mid 1800's to right that wrong, america, all of it, paid a heafty price for slavery. That number is more than any other war we have ever fought... Debt paid in full...

[JayBell]

as far as I'm concerned, none of those ignorant fools will ever get an apology, or a dime from me.

My fathers family emigrated here from ireland in 1921....we werent involved in jack squat in the slave anything.

I remember my grandfather saying he saw signs on tavern doors that said 'No dogs or irish"...

now, my mothers side is from kentucky, and they came here in 1745...so there may have been something there, who knows....they were never rich landowners.

either way, it consistently bugs me that they NEVER mention that it was thier fellow africans who captured them, and specifically sold them into slavery.

I frankly dont care what race or religion or color you are, if you are an A$$hole, we just arent going to get along:-)

I don't consider myself an kneejerk racist, but everyone is to an extent...humans are tribal, and clannish, and tend to stick with those that look like us, act and dress like us, we tnd to marry and seek mates from our own race..
its how we are wired.

[klpolk3]

My daughter has a Critical Issues class in school, and last month, she had to do a report on Reparations for the families of slaves. Can you believe that?! There are actually families out there that feel that the government should pay them NOW, for what their ancestors endured. Forget the apology! They want money!!
By the way, I am a minority. Ethnically, I'm Filipino and German. However, I was brought up to know that I was American and only, American. As it should be. Don't get me wrong...I am proud of my heritage. My father and aunt were guerilla fighters during WWII. There village was left in ruins by the invading Japanese. Does that give me the right to sue the Japanese government for what my family went through during the war?? It's so ridiculous!

Idiocy and Ignorance comes in all colors.

[LittleRedToyota]

My daughter has a Critical Issues class in school, and last month, she had to do a report on Reparations for the families of slaves. Can you believe that?! There are actually families out there that feel that the government should pay them NOW, for what their ancestors endured.

in some cases, i can sorta see their argument.

there are wealthy white families who are wealthy today as a result (partially, at least) of slave ownership by their ancestors. (they were just born into a family and inherited money which was originally derived from slave labor...they did not really earn that money...their forefathers "earned" it by enslaving people.)

on the other hand, there are the decendants of those slaves...who never got any of the fruits of their ancestor's labor.

i could see some cases where direct decendants of slaves maybe should get some of the money inherited by direct decendants of slave owners. (i could also see the concept being very badly abused, though.)

in some cases, it is really no different than jews demanding a cut of the money that was stolen from their ancestors by the nazis. i have a jewish friend whose ancestors owned a very profitable factory in germany. that factory was stolen by the nazis. the factory still exists and is still worth a lot of money today, but it is now owned by some other family (who bought it from the people the nazis gave it to when they stole it). my friend's family filed for reparations and got all of $20,000 (a joke compared to the value of the factory).

while i can understand the position of the current owners in saying they were not responsible for stealing the factory from my friend's family, they undoubtedly knew the history when they bought it. they knew they were buying stolen property.

this is certainly a more clear cut case than many slave reparation cases, but there are some clear cut cases there, too. and, in some cases, i think those demanding reparations are actually justified.

[JIMMYC308]

My family came here in the 1930's and 40's we weren't involved so no apology coming from here!!!!!!!!!

[ChamberedRound]

This whole thing is ridiculous. It isn't about mending fences, it's about so-called "civil rights" groups looking to pressure the states and federal governments into claiming culpability, for the sole purpose of using that "mea culpa" as the basis for a lawsuit.

My question is this: What about our civil rights? If these groups sue the government, they are essentially suing ALL OF US; they are suing THEMSELVES. Why should we be sued for something we didn't do?

This is nothing more than a money grab, an attempt to work the legal system to force a redistribution of public funds without the approval of the Executive or Legislative branches of government.

[Jersey Ron]

To me, as an Afro-American, I could really care less about an apology or the so-called affirmitve action movement for that matter. I do think that healthy, critical debate on such a pivitol historical fact is a good thing. I believe it is called freedom of speech. This brings me to another point. Germany is still paying billions of dollars for the, now debated, Holocaust. America spends hundreds of millions of dollars per year on Holocaust Museums, Days of Rememberance, etc. But even the slightest debate on THIS particular matter brings down the wrath of the "chosen ones". Anti-semite this, Anti-Semite that, blah, blah, blah. In some countries you can even get arrested for not beleiving every aspect of this historical event. And while you guys/gals are ranting and raving about black folk asking for a f*cken apology "they" are eroding all of our civil liberties day by day by day. Watch out for the Hate Crimes Bill that is being bullied through congress. I suggest you take the time and study the Russian Revolution(1917) & "Judea declares War on Germany" (1935). The same tactics are being used right here where YOUR FOREFATHERS founded this once great nation. Wake up and get a clue!!



Jersey