I wrote this last year, when the Georgia General Assembly was considering a formal apology for slavery:
Of course we should apologize for slavery. Every human being should.
We should be sorry that we don't love our fellow men like we should. That we let fear and hatred hold us back in this advanced age.
Martin Luther King Jr. was quoting Matthew most of the time. Who was, of course, quoting Jesus.
Love your neighbor.
I'm sorry slavery happened. I'm sorry it happened on my own soil, in my country. I'm sorrier still that so much of it, and so badly, happened in my beloved home state.
I also had these lines, which I liked. But I never felt good about the segues to them:
If you say "we" when you say "America," I think that's proof you owe an apology. ...
I honor all dead. Every man has good in him and is to be missed, and those who sacrifice for others most of all.
1 comment:
While I'm sure you and many others feel bad about what happened, the fact is, you weren’t apart of it. Neither were the members of the Legislature who are passing this resolution. So what does apologizing really do? Maybe, just maybe, the apology should be in actions not words? Words matter, but without action they are just that, words. A good place to start would be legislation that helps the least among us? Health care? Minimum wage? True education reform? I could go on and on, but you get the point… Instead they waste their time on car tags and beer on Sunday. No wonder we have lost our faith in government.
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