Tom et al.:

It's not about history. It's about heritage.

It's not about the past. It's about the present and future.

Does an apology for slavery change anything that's already happened? Of 
course not. Can it still have symbolic importance for the group seeking 
it? Yes. The irony in Hargrove's comment that Virginia blacks should 
just "get over it [i.e., slavery]" is that the man doesn't have a clue 
as to why an apology would matter. In asking for one, supporters are 
doing precisely what Hargrove says he wants them to do. An apology would 
help them "get over it," because it would signify the attainment, at 
long last, of some common ground by Virginia's whites and blacks on the 
most tangled issues of their intertwined histories. An apology for 
slavery is a means of reconciliation, not some magic spell that will 
undo centuries of tyranny and agony. The adamant refusal of some to 
consider reconciliation on such a matter is telling.

It is not easy to fabricate a shared heritage for blacks, whites, 
Indians, and others. On what terms will the majority of the American 
people accept blacks into the fold as equals? Must they (blacks) agree 
to forget about slavery? Is this the price of inclusion? Must Indians 
"get over" dispossession and depopulation? When former Confederates and 
their devotees sought to dwell on a glorious "Lost Cause," most 
northerners indulged them in this conceit. They were not advised to "get 
over it."

Are we on the same page? Are we truly ready to tackle the social 
problems of the present that have proved so intractable and divisive? 
Should we be optimistic about the possibilities of working together when 
the group that has long held the reins of power cannot be persuaded to 
make even a symbolic concession to the historical memory and legacies of 
the "descendants of slaves"? What's worse, the request for an apology is 
caricatured as "political correctness"... as if the supplicants were 
actually in charge. One begins to understand the frustration of earlier 
generations of black activists who could not get broad support for 
anti-lynching legislation.

Are we one people, comprised of many? Do we want liberty and justice for 
all, or not?

Doug Deal

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