The (SOUTH) had no slave ships. The (NORTH) had those.
Lincoln made mistakes also. I forgive him.
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 2:10 PM
Subject: [VA-HIST] Apologies
> As for me, to all the black members of this list, don't blame me, and
> don't blame the south, but in whatever way I can apologize for myself
> and my family, I apologize for what my people did to your people. It
> was wrong.
> Nancy
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> I agree completely with what Nancy has said here and I am descended, on
both
> sides of my family, from slave owners. I, personally, do not have any
guilt
> associated with that fact but I can tell you that I deeply regret and am
> extremely sorry that my ancestors bought into that depraved system of
> thinking and behaving and living.
> I have quite a few African-American friends and although we only rarely
> discuss the subject of slavery, they know how I feel and I am glad that
they
> know how I feel. I want them to know that I fully agree that slavery was
an
> evil institution. I want them to know that I KNOW that their people were
> badly treated and that I find that fact totally reprehensible.
> Oral histories still abound and some of the blacks living today have their
> own set of family stories that got passed down. Those stories are starting
> to die out as the black family has become so, so, so badly fractured by
> wretched 20th century political and policy decisions that have done
nothing
> more than wreck and undermine the structure of the black family but, even
> so, some of those stories are still out there and these folks KNOW what
> happened to their families. They know. Just like I know certain things
about
> my ancestors who lived in Virginia and North Carolina in the 18th and
19th
> centuries.....one was killed by Indians when he was watering his horse.
> Another one hanged his own nephew when he deserted from the Confederate
army
> (the one doing the hanging was Captain of the Home Guard....a la Cold
> Mountain).
> As long as a particular family exists, if there are oral histories for
that
> family, they will usually get passed around and down one way or another.
> The point I wish to make is that some African-Americans today, especially
> the older ones who grew up intact families (intact families being an
anomaly
> for African-Americans today, obviously), still have these stories stored
up
> in their hearts and minds.
> Frankly, I think it is an awesome tribute to American black people (I'm
> getting REALLY politically incorrect here and that's too damn bad but I
mean
> this) that they are as forgiving and as gracious and as kindly toward
white
> people as they are. I mean, hell, The War is long over and I still hate
> those damn Yankees! (Just kidding).
> I don't know how exactly to word this but if an institution, like a state,
> has not just condoned but actively participated in and built up a system
> that was as enduring and as atrocious as the act of owning another human
> being, then I see nothing wrong with, indeed, I see it as only helpful and
> healthy to officially repent and even plead for forgiveness. Doing so
would
> be a giant step toward bringing Freedom to everyone involved.
> Deane Mills
> York County, VA
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sunshine49" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 9:40 AM
> Subject: Re: VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
>
>
> >I must disagree. I do agree that the PC movement has become too extreme,
> >and it does nothing but create over-sensitivity, victimization, stifled
> >communication, and resentment, depending on which side you're on. But,
> >bottom line, what an apology for slavery deals with is human psychology.
> >In a relationship, a person who has been wronged needs that sense of
> >acknowledgment and validation of the wrongs done to them, even if it is
> >decades later. It's stupid for an abuser to say oh, I knocked your teeth
> >out 30 years ago, it's over and done, why don't you just get over it? As
> >long as the wounds and resentment still fester, and the abuser refuses
to
> >say they did anything wrong, the issue will still exist. I think too
many
> >whites, in an attempt to protect themselves from being blamed for
slavery,
> >have created a bubble of insularity around themselves concerning the
> >issue, and they have refused to see it anymore, other than in the
> >abstract. I agree, neither I nor any other white today [with the
exception
> >of the ravening racists who still exist] should be "blamed" for slavery.
> >But it did exist, it was a vile institution [but not one that should be
> >blamed solely on the south, at had existed all over the colonies and has
> >existed throughout man's history]. Read some of the original papers in
> >courthouses and bring it to life for yourselves. How would you feel if
it
> >was your great- great grandfather's brothers, two little boys aged 8 and
> >11, who were sold away from a farm in Amelia County? Ask yourselves how
> >your gr-gr-gr- grandmother must have felt, to have her children torn
away
> >from her, probably never to be seen again? I think you'd be pretty
> >resentful. Or if you read that, say, a Native American in Charlotte
County
> >in the 1850s was selling off a piece of land so he could establish
> >himself in a slave business buying and selling your white ancestors, as
if
> >they were cattle or sheep. Herd 'em in, sell 'em off, make money. It
would
> >be pretty sickening. Or how about, perhaps, my own ancestor, maybe a
> >Thomas Cardwell, stolen from his family back in Lancashire by slave
> >raiders, chained in the hold of a fetid slave ship, groaning, sick,
> >hungry, thirsty, listening to his fellow Englishmen around him dying,
and
> >emerging to a life where he could nevermore take a free step. I'd be
> >pretty damned mad, let me tell you. It was abhorrent. We should
apologize
> >for it. But then both races need to move forward, I think of blacks and
> >whites in this country as two people stuck in a bad marriage. So many
> >issues, so many wounds, so much repressed anger. And they've stopped
> >talking to each other about it. One lashes out, the other lashes back.
> >Both only half-listen to the other, if that much, and they are no longer
> >talking issues and problems, they are talking wounds. That's never good.
> >We need a mediator, a third party, so we can all sit down and have a
> >civilized airing of our collective pasts, work thru the wounds,
apologize
> >for wrongs, and MOVE FOWARD. Will it ever happen? You can get so busy
> >looking over your shoulder at where you've been, you can no longer see
> >where it is you are going. History as we here love is a wonderful thing,
> >but I see it as a groundwork on which to understand ourselves through
our
> >pasts, and on which to build for the future.
> >
> > As for me, to all the black members of this list, don't blame me, and
> > don't blame the south, but in whatever way I can apologize for myself
and
> > my family, I apologize for what my people did to your people. It was
> > wrong. I cannot begin to "understand" your experience any more than I
can
> > "understand" what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany, since I am not
> > Jewish, but don't sell me short [or insult me]. I am still a human
being
> > and I can be horrified at cruelty done to other human beings. I have
> > empathy.
> >
> > Nancy
> >
> > -------
> > I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
> >
> > --Daniel Boone
> >
> >
> >
> > On Jan 19, 2007, at 5:28 AM, Clara Callahan wrote:
> >
> >> Forced and/or litigated apologies mean nothing. Apologies on behalf
of
> >> people long dead who cannot speak for themselves mean nothing and are
> >> totally ridiculous 300 years on, and those asking for them know it.
It
> >> would be interesting to know how many times these politically correct
> >> public apologies have been publicly accepted by those demanding the
> >> apologies. The travesty will be if this gentleman is forced to
> >> apologize for not apologizing. The whole thing is bogus and everyone
> >> knows it.
> >>
> >> Excalibur131 <[log in to unmask]> wrote: ----- Original
essage -----
> >> From: "John Frederick Fausz"
> >> To:
> >> Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 2:18 PM
> >> Subject: VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> When the legislature moved back to regular session in Richmond,
> >>> however, that warm and cozy feeling quickly vanished. As I read
> >>> in the St. Louis Post Dispatch on 1/17, Delegate Frank Harmon
> >>> spoke against a "measure that would apologize on the state's
> >>> behalf to the descendants of slaves." He allegedly told a
> >>> Charlottesville reporter that "our black citizens should get over
> >>> slavery" and then added: "are we going to force the Jews to
> >>> apologize for killing Christ?" Needless to say, his comments
> >>> "drew denunciations from stunned colleagues."
> >>
> >>>
> >>> Fred Fausz
> >>> St. Louis
> >>
> >>
> >> In these times of political correctness, I wonder what Delegate Frank
> >> Harmon's "stunned colleagues" were whispering behind closed doors? Do
> >> you
> >> think that, in secrecy, some of his "stunned colleagues" weren't so
> >> stunned
> >> after all and agreed with what he said in part or in whole? Would they
> >> have
> >> denounced Delegate Frank Harmon if his words were spoken in private?
It
> >> is
> >> so hard to tell fact from fiction when political correctness is the
name
> >> of
> >> the game.
> >>
> >> Tom
> >> Eastern Shore & More Forum
> >> http://www.easternshoremore.com/forum/
> >>
> >> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
> >> instructions
> >> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
> >>
> >>
> >> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
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> >> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
> >
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> >
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