Tom,
The legislature is a body. It is not the specific people in it. It is The
Government. It is The Commonwealth of Virginia. It speaks for All of the
people (or at least those allowed to vote). It speaks to All of the People
(even if they don't vote). It is the body politic.
If not the Virginia Legislature, who should apologize. Surely not the
slaveholders themselves. They went to their graves lamenting that the feds
didn't pay them for the value of their slaves, disregarding that in truth
the feds should have CHARGED them to pay the slaves for their labor.
It is a small thing being asked. An apology. Not a repayment for all the
labor that was used, not all the lives that were forfeited, not all the
families that were destroyed. Virginia would not be what it was today had it
not been for the labor of the slaves!
Get over it! Apologize, as asked. It is the least you can do.
Anne
Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]http://www.erols.com/stevepemhttp://www.erols.com/apemberthttp://www.educationalsynthesis.org
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