Senate OKs apology for slavery, segregation
WASHINGTON – With unanimous consent, the U.S. Senate today apologized on behalf of the nation to African Americans for the legacy of slavery and the enforced system of segregation known as Jim Crow.
Advertisement
It differed from last year’s resolution passed by the House in one major detail only: The Senate’s version included a disclaimer noting that nothing in the resolution supports reparations for the families of slaves or “serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States.”
Sens. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, and Republican Sam Brownback of Kansas were the primary sponsors, with Michigan’s Carl Levin, a Democrat, also putting his name on the resolution, which passed without a roll call vote. Said Levin, “It is our responsibility, our duty, to continue to examine” the legacy of slavery.
“This apology,” he said, “is part of carrying out that responsibility.”
Last year, with the support of House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers of Detroit, Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee got a resolution apologizing for slavery and Jim Crow passed in the House on a voice vote but it died in the Senate.
This year’s resolution passed the Senate in time for Juneteenth – set for June 19 every year – the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. On that day in 1865, Union solders landed in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and the slaves there were free.
The resolution acknowledges ”the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws” and apologizes for the wrongs committed against African Americans “and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws.” It also calls on all people to work toward “eliminating racial prejudices, injustices and discrimination from our society” while noting that an apology cannot erase the pain of past wrongs.
The House is expected to take up the resolution as early as next week.