Senate passes apology for slavery
Posted June 18th, 2009 by James DeWolf PerryThe U.S. Senate has passed a resolution apologizing for the nation’s history of slavery and racial discrimination.
The historic resolution, offered by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), was debated by the full Senate for an hour this morning, with no senator objecting to the measure, before being approved on a voice vote. The concurrent resolution now proceeds to the House for that body’s approval, before becoming a joint expression of the sentiment of Congress.
S. Con. Res. 26 “acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws.” It further states that “African-Americans continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow laws–long after both systems were formally abolished–through enormous damage and loss, both tangible and intangible.”
The resolution then “apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States.”
For more information and background on this resolution, readers may visit my own blog, “The Living Consequences.”
