[cure-news] Virginia Moves to Apologize for Slavery

[Ida Hakim]

Virginia Moves to Apologize for Slavery --
Expression of 'Profound Regret' Would Be a First
by Wendy Koch
? 2007 USA Today

Virginia moved forward on Wednesday to apologize for slavery, something 
no president or legislature has done.

The Virginia House Rules Committee unanimously approved a measure that 
expresses "profound regret" for the state's role in the slave trade and 
other injustices against African-Americans and Native Americans.

The original proposal by Del. Donald McEachin, a Democrat, called for 
"atonement."

"This is a good first step," says McEachin, whose great-grandfather 
Archie was a slave.

He says the wording was changed because some lawmakers said an apology 
could lead to reparations, or cash payments, to descendants of slaves.

He says the bill, though softened, is important as Virginia celebrates 
the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, America's first 
permanent English settlement and an entry point for African slaves.

A proposal in the state Senate expressing "profound contrition" won 
unanimous approval from a subcommittee Monday.

House Speaker William Howell expects both chambers to pass the measure, 
says his spokesman, G. Paul Nardo.  The Legislature is scheduled to 
adjourn February 24.

Congress has apologized to Japanese-Americans held in camps during World 
War II.  President Clinton, in Uganda in 1998, said U.S. participation 
in the slave trade was "wrong."

An apology alone does not heal wounds, says Bruce Gordon, president of 
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  He says 
it's important to recognize past wrongs, but it's more essential to fix 
lingering racial inequities.

The Virginia effort to apologize for slavery stirred controversy last 
month. Del. Frank Hargrove Sr., a white Republican, told The Daily 
Progress in Charlottesville that blacks "should get over" slavery 
instead of seeking a formal apology from the state.

He asked, "Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ?"

Hargrove voted for the revised measure because, he said, it expresses 
regret "without apologizing for anything."

The Virginia Legislature expressed "profound regret" in 2001 for its 
role in eugenics, a discredited science that led to the sterilization of 
more than 7,000 Virginians in the name of purifying the white race 
between 1924 and 1979.
>From hakimida at reparationsthecure.org  Sat Feb  3 17:47:58 2007
From: hakimida at reparationsthecure.org (Ida Hakim)
Date: Sat Feb  3 17:43:54 2007
Subject: [cure-news] Danish activist advocates for slavery reparations in
 U.S. Virgin Islands
Message-ID: <45C51F2E.3030607 at reparationsthecure.org>

International Herald Tribune

Danish activist advocates for slavery reparations in U.S. Virgin Islands

The Associated Press Friday, February 2, 2007CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S.
Virgin Islands

A human rights activist from Denmark met with U.S. Virgin Islands Gov.
John de Jongh Jr. and other local leaders Friday to push a program aimed
at making amends for two centuries of slavery in the former Danish West
Indies.

A reparation initiative, which is focused on cultural exchanges rather
than financial compensation or a formal apology, was the focus of a
closed-door meeting between de Jongh and Morten Kjaerum, director of the
Danish Institute for Human Rights. The three-island chain was a Danish
colony until 1917 when the United States bought it.

"It's about people-to-people understanding, coming to terms with our
history. All these other components are in many ways much deeper, much
more complex than any financial compensation,

" Kjaerum said.

De Jongh, who was elected governor in November, was not available for
comment after the meeting, but local officials said he seemed agreeable
to the idea.

"The intent was to sensitize the governor to the whole movement with
Denmark and I believe the governor was receptive. He was honest about
having to educate himself more," said Sen. Terrance Nelson, a supporter
of the initiative.

Unlike campaigns that have sought payments of billions of dollars (euros)
in Haiti and the U.S. mainland, Kjaerum and Virgin Islands activists say
their goal is to educate former slave-trading nations and encourage local
investment.

Last year, Kjaerum and Shelley Moorhead, leader of the St. Croix-based
African-Caribbean Reparations and Resettlement Alliance, agreed to work
together to create educational initiatives, such as exchange programs, so
people could study the slave trade's legacy of discrimination and racism.

"When I was a kid and went to school I didn't learn anything about it,"
Kjaerum said.

Denmark colonized what is now the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 17th
century, establishing sugar plantations and a profitable slave market.
After several bloody revolts, Denmark abolished the slave trade in 1792.
It took until 1848 for slaves to be freed.

Moorhead and Nelson plan to visit Denmark later this year to continue the
reparations effort.