Maryland to express ‘profound regret’ for slavery
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (AP) — Maryland lawmakers approved an apology Monday for the state’s role in the slave trade, expressing “profound regret” that it once “trafficked in human flesh.”….Maryland follows Virginia in issuing a formal apology. The vote in the House of Delegates makes the apology official, because a resolution doesn’t require the governor’s signature. The state Senate already approved it. The resolution notes that slavery “fostered a climate of oppression not only for slaves and their descendants but also for people of color who moved to Maryland subsequent to slavery’s abolition.”….Co-sponsor Sen. Nathaniel Exum, a Democrat, said he was exhilarated that Maryland lawmakers decided to finally recognize the painful role the state played in slavery.
Before anyone goes all politically correct on my ass, let me just begin by stating for the record that I’m fully cognizant of the fact that slavery was a nasty, dehumanimzing period of our history. I would never for a minute even consider defending slavery or those who engaged in it. The idea that a human being could be considered property and only 2/3 human is repugnant at best and morally reprehensible at worst.
Having said that, I still believe that what the Maryland legislature has done is, to paraphrase Shakespeare, full of sound and full and yet signifying nothing. Will anything change? Will the races suddenly get along? Will bigots on all sides suddenly see the error of their ways and engage in one big group grope hug? Hey, it worked in Virginia, didn’t it??
Yeah, right….
In the 1700s, slave ships docked blocks away from the Maryland State House, and thousands of enslaved men and women arrived in the town. Slavery officially ended in Maryland with the adoption of a new state constitution in 1864….
Virginia’s legislature passed a resolution last month also expressing “profound regret” for that state’s role in slavery. Congress and lawmakers in Missouri and Georgia are considering an apology.
Here’s what I want to know: How many tax dollars are being wasted so state legislators can pat themselves on the back? What, exactly, are these resolutions designed to accomplish? I’m all for equality and respect among the races. It’s long past time for us to begin seeing one another as people, and not as [insert qualifier here] people. How do any of these formal resolutions of apology accomplish ANYTHING of lasting value?
If legislators were truly serious about atoning for the sins of our forefathers, or even about trying to create equal opportunities for all, they’d being done something that has some actual value. They’d be funding scholarship endowments, creating job training programs, enabling programs designed to clean up the inner city and starting programs designed to make cities safer for everyone. Of course, that would require some actual leadership and resolve…which is WAY too much like hard work. Why would a politician do the hard thing when he can take the easy way out and sign on to a meaningless resolution apologizing for a social system that ended with the Emancipation Proclamation 142 years ago and that they had nothing to do with?
Yeah, I’m sorry too. Now leave me the (&^% alone…and don’t come back until you actually have something useful and meaningful to offer.
And don’t even get me start on reparations….
