ALABAMA apologizes for slavery, joins four other states.
Today, Alabama Governor, REPUBLICAN Bob Riley, magnanimously signed a resolution expressing "profound regret" for Alabama's part in slavery and "its lingering effects." According to him, "Slavery was evil and is a part of American history [and] I believe all Alabamians are proud of the tremendous progress we have made and continue to make."
The resolution describes "centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices" and says "the vestiges of slavery are ever before African - American citizens."
IRONICALLY, the signing of the resolution took place in the state Capitol, which also served as the first capitol of the Confederacy in 1861 and directly across the street from where Confederate "President" Jefferson Davis took up residence -- I suggest to anyone who has NOT gone to Alabama to bear witness to the historical struggle of the Civil Rights Movement to force our country to live up to its creed, that all men are created equal ..., to do so (I did with my family).
The Capitol was also the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march that led to passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Ask any Civil Rights Historian and you'll be told that the seat of Southern racism was in Alabama, figuratively and literarily.
So Alabama's resolution speaks volumes, not to diminish the other states' apologies of course.
By the adoption of this resolution, Alabama becomes the fourth Southern state to pass a slavery apology, following Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.
The Right Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., I suspect, is smiling in Heaven and "thanking God Almighty" that the sons of the "vicious racists", as he described many Alabamans before his martyrdom, have FINALLY agreed with him by this apology, and his fight (and death, perhaps) did NOT occur in vain.
Update: I erroneously attributed the magnanimity solely to Alabama's Governor. I reality, the expressed magnanimity is found in the Legislators that introduced -- and approved -- the slavery apology bill, together to Alabamians who were supportive of the measure. I meant these folks NO insult by NOT recognizing them earlier in my post and I apologize to them for my oversight.
The resolution describes "centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices" and says "the vestiges of slavery are ever before African - American citizens."
IRONICALLY, the signing of the resolution took place in the state Capitol, which also served as the first capitol of the Confederacy in 1861 and directly across the street from where Confederate "President" Jefferson Davis took up residence -- I suggest to anyone who has NOT gone to Alabama to bear witness to the historical struggle of the Civil Rights Movement to force our country to live up to its creed, that all men are created equal ..., to do so (I did with my family).
The Capitol was also the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march that led to passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Ask any Civil Rights Historian and you'll be told that the seat of Southern racism was in Alabama, figuratively and literarily.
So Alabama's resolution speaks volumes, not to diminish the other states' apologies of course.
By the adoption of this resolution, Alabama becomes the fourth Southern state to pass a slavery apology, following Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.
The Right Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., I suspect, is smiling in Heaven and "thanking God Almighty" that the sons of the "vicious racists", as he described many Alabamans before his martyrdom, have FINALLY agreed with him by this apology, and his fight (and death, perhaps) did NOT occur in vain.
Update: I erroneously attributed the magnanimity solely to Alabama's Governor. I reality, the expressed magnanimity is found in the Legislators that introduced -- and approved -- the slavery apology bill, together to Alabamians who were supportive of the measure. I meant these folks NO insult by NOT recognizing them earlier in my post and I apologize to them for my oversight.
Labels: Civil rights, Constitutional Rights, Race, Racism, The Constitution
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 3:13 AM
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