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Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:38:33 -0500 |
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I have been following this thread, and finally can hold my silence no
longer.
I have lived in Virginia for some thirty years. During that time, I have
heard modern Virginians brag about the wealth their families once owned in
flesh and blood who were aghast that I was not suitably impressed. I have
seen modern Virginians who cheered when an African-American family was wiped
out in an auto accident because the father, who was not killed, was a
successful business man in Richmond whose success was an affront to the
white community. I've heard more white southerners use the "n" word among
themselves, and denounce me as a "d*mn yankee" for objecting to it!
Was it not the Virginia Legislature that refused to follow the lead of the
Northern states who emancipated the African-Americans? Was it not the
Virginia Legislature that enacted the Slave Codes that punished
African-Americans who sought freedom, an education, or to marry the person
they loved? Was it not the Virginia Legislature that enacted the "Jim Crow"
laws in Virginia?
Looking at Hargrave on TV, I suspect he is old enough to have benefitted
from the laws that oppressed African-Americans before the Supreme Court
struck them down. I suspect, as arrogant as he was in his pronouncement,
that he spoke out against integration of schools and society. I wonder if he
felt like a woman I spoke with this summer who felt the federal government
still OWED the descendents of slaveholders the value of the emancipated
slaves?
Yes, I do believe the Virginia Legislature is getting off easy being asked
to make an apology for slavery, representative of the body that changed
servitude from a term of service to a lifetime sentence.
Anne
Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/stevepem
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
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