When is an apology for slavery too late?
The House of Representatives, with a minimum of fanfare and no pomp, passed a resolution Tuesday apologizing to black Americans for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow" segregation.
The resolution did not even draw a roll-call vote but squeezed through by a voice vote on what is called "the suspension calendar," a device to speed along noncontroversial legislation to which neither party objects.
It was sponsored by a white Democrat from Tennessee, Rep. Steve Cohen, who faces a primary Aug. 7 in his heavily black district against a black challenger, airline lawyer Nikki Tyler.
Slavery was abolished for part of the United States in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln's proclamation, and that was reinforced by federal laws, and remnants of slavery were dealt with by amendments to the federal Constitution through the mid-1960s.
At the time of the country's founding, slavery was found in every former colony and region, not only in the South but in New York City, where slave ships were fitted out, and in Providence and Newport, R.I., where slave pens were maintained.
The bill was sponsored by 42 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, but only handful of the members have endorsed Cohen's reelection. The Senate has yet to act on a similar proposal by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.
In Chicago on Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, stopped short of endorsing an official apology to American Indians, but urged the nation to acknowledge its treatment of certain racial groups.
Speaking to a convention of minority journalism associations, Obama said, "there's no doubt that when it comes to our treatment of Native Americans as well as other persons of color in this country, we've got some very sad and difficult things to account for.
"I personally would want to see our tragic history, or the tragic elements of our history acknowledged," Obama said. "I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it's Native Americans or African American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but deeds."
--- Douglas Turner
