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
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http://www.erols.com/stevepem
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org 

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