Virginia Expresses 'Profound Regret' for State's Role in Slavery

[Dos Equis]

Good gesture, particularly given their recent history regarding poll taxes, etc.  

Virginia General Assembly Passes Resolution Expressing 'Profound Regret' for State's Role in Slavery
Saturday, February 24, 2007

RICHMOND, Va. —  Meeting on the grounds of the former Confederate Capitol, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously Saturday to express "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery.

Sponsors of the resolution say they know of no other state that has apologized for slavery, although Missouri lawmakers are considering such a measure. The resolution does not carry the weight of law but sends an important symbolic message, supporters said.

"This session will be remembered for a lot of things, but 20 years hence I suspect one of those things will be the fact that we came together and passed this resolution," said Delegate A. Donald McEachin, a Democrat who sponsored it in the House of Delegates.

The resolution passed the House 96-0 and cleared the 40-member Senate on a unanimous voice vote. It does not require Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's approval.

The measure also expressed regret for "the exploitation of Native Americans."

The resolution was introduced as Virginia begins its celebration of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, where the first Africans arrived in 1619. Richmond, home to a popular boulevard lined with statues of Confederate heroes, later became another point of arrival for Africans and a slave-trade hub.

The resolution says government-sanctioned slavery "ranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history, and the abolition of slavery was followed by systematic discrimination, enforced segregation, and other insidious institutions and practices toward Americans of African descent that were rooted in racism, racial bias, and racial misunderstanding."

In Virginia, black voter turnout was suppressed with a poll tax and literacy tests before those practices were struck down by federal courts, and state leaders responded to federally ordered school desegregation with a "Massive Resistance" movement in the 1950s and early '60s. Some communities created exclusive whites-only schools.

The apology is the latest in a series of strides Virginia has made in overcoming its segregationist past. Virginia was the first state to elect a black governor — L. Douglas Wilder in 1989 — and the Legislature took a step toward atoning for Massive Resistance in 2004 by creating a scholarship fund for blacks whose schools were shut down between 1954 and 1964.

Among those voting for the measure was Delegate Frank D. Hargrove, an 80-year-old Republican who infuriated black leaders last month by saying "black citizens should get over" slavery.

After enduring a barrage of criticism, Hargrove successfully co-sponsored a resolution calling on Virginia to celebrate "Juneteenth," a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,254400,00.html

[J_Mainero]

how 'bout some cold hard cash now?

[Dos Equis]

Or not.   

[240 is Back]

Once you apologize, people can sue, right?

[Dos Equis]

Once you apologize, people can sue, right?

lol.  Look up the phrase "statute of limitations." 

 

[240 is Back]

lol.  Look up the phrase "statute of limitations." 

 

You're kidding me, right?

Have you missed out on the entire reparations issue?

Once a state admits guilt it risks becoming culpable for civil damages.




Seriously, do you believe that the statute of limitations prevents people from getting raparations?

You claim to be a college professor.  You just dropped the ball here, beachy.

[J_Mainero]

lol.  Look up the phrase "statute of limitations." 

 

that minor difficulty can easily be overcome by legislation.  Hell, a brother's going to be in the White House soon.

[Dos Equis]

You're kidding me, right?

Have you missed out on the entire reparations issue?

Once a state admits guilt it risks becoming culpable for civil damages.




Seriously, do you believe that the statute of limitations prevents people from getting raparations?

You claim to be a college professor.  You just dropped the ball here, beachy.

Geeze Louise.  Listen Gomer Pyle, I tried helping you understand a while back, to no avail, that the Military Commissions Act couldn't have been used to detain someone three years BEFORE the act was passed.  Now you want help with this issue?  Against my better judgment, here goes:

1.  Of course the statute of limitations would apply.  An apology has nothing to do whether the clock started over a 100 freakin years ago!  It is when the injury occurred, not when someone apologizes for the injury.  Good grief.   

2.  Even if we assume, for the sake of DUMB argument, that the statute of limitations did not run, we would be talking about a claim for a violation of a person's civil rights, probably under 42 U.S.C. section 1983.  But the state of Virginia couldn't have violated a person's civil rights, because slavery was legal until the 13 Amendment was passed.  There was also Plessy vs. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that validated segregation.  Jim Crow was legal till the Civil Rights Act of 1964.    

3.  Even if we assume, for the sake of further DUMB argument, that there would be some of kind claim, nobody alive today has standing to file any lawsuit.  They're all dead!  I doubt claims like these survive a person's death, but someone who knows much more about this than me could probably answer that question.

4.  Regarding my teaching, I'm actually taking the semester off, for the first time in over three years.  But I did just write a letter of recommendation for one of my grad students from last semester.  He's a black kid from the Dominican Republican who finished at the top of the class.  Very bright kid. 

Class is dismissed. 

[Dos Equis]

***Coqui frogs***

[240 is Back]

"taking a semester off teaching college" describes why your ass is here all day, eh?

hahahaha monster imaginary career.  I had to explain to you what an MBA was.  Liar.

[Dos Equis]

Geeze Louise.  Listen Gomer Pyle, I tried helping you understand a while back, to no avail, that the Military Commissions Act couldn't have been used to detain someone three years BEFORE the act was passed.  Now you want help with this issue?  Against my better judgment, here goes:

1.  Of course the statute of limitations would apply.  An apology has nothing to do whether the clock started over a 100 freakin years ago!  It is when the injury occurred, not when someone apologizes for the injury.  Good grief.   

2.  Even if we assume, for the sake of DUMB argument, that the statute of limitations did not run, we would be talking about a claim for a violation of a person's civil rights, probably under 42 U.S.C. section 1983.  But the state of Virginia couldn't have violated a person's civil rights, because slavery was legal until the 13 Amendment was passed.  There was also Plessy vs. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that validated segregation.  Jim Crow was legal till the Civil Rights Act of 1964.    

3.  Even if we assume, for the sake of further DUMB argument, that there would be some of kind claim, nobody alive today has standing to file any lawsuit.  They're all dead!  I doubt claims like these survive a person's death, but someone who knows much more about this than me could probably answer that question.

4.  Regarding my teaching, I'm actually taking the semester off, for the first time in over three years.  But I did just write a letter of recommendation for one of my grad students from last semester.  He's a black kid from the Dominican Republican who finished at the top of the class.  Very bright kid. 

Class is dismissed. 

**CRICKETS**