Well it's about damn time. I know that an extremely loud minority has been pushing for reparations for some time. However, the problem with reparations is not the unwillingness to want to give but the logistics of figuring out in this day and age who gets what and how much. It is mind boggling. You would need a team of forensic anthropologists, dentists, accountants, genealogists, historians etc. to make heads or tails of the watered down lineage and apply worth to how much African heritage is still left in someone. Next thing you'll know people will be complaining because there's a Mule on their door step.

I doesn't means much but I'll take it. There is nothing wrong admitting when your not right. They've apologized to the Japanese-Americans, the Hawaiians, it's only fair to apologize for taking blacks from their homeland, stripping them of their culture, language, forcing them to work and breed, and then denying black Americans the right to vote in the country of their birth. I think somebody deserves an apology.

The whole reparations thing is never going to happen and I've accepted that.

I was surprised to read that this was the first apology for slavery -and I've been looking online to see how reparations are calculated, and determining how much and to whom will be a job and a half. But when you consider the economic wealth that was accumulated because of slave labor and Jim Crow laws, and the millions of people who were denied a fair share of that wealth for generations, there really is no morally valid argument against reparations.

How would you give reparations to those who are no longer alive and how would you determine who pays? Those who were active in this are no longer around.

That's a great question, Hunter, I was wondering the same thing as I was reading this. I wonder if any plans for reparations have been floated about?

I am not trying to undermine the apology by Congress, but it wasn't this Congress (or any recent ones) that were responsible for the actions. It is a nice touch, but it's just that. Unfortunately, we can't change history, but we can learn from it.

Martini, there's a ton of stuff online, different calculators different suggestions for how and whom to calculate - Hypno was understating it when he said it would be mindboggling to figure it out. But, when you figure the fortunes that were made, built and passed on...

I see what you are saying Stephley, however how can you figure out who pays? It wasn't the direction action of people today that led to Jim Crow and slavery. It would be like me suing every person who denied my great-great grandparents jobs, housing, etc. because they were Irish. Who do I sue? Why are they responsible for another person's actions?

It seems strange to apologize for a culture that didn't originate in this country and to people who are no longer living, but certainly the living offspring of those slaves might feel a little vindication for their ancestors. Certainly many are still living with the castigation of that same prejudice, so I think it might ease that reality a little and hopefully have an affect on those who feel they are of superior race.

Read up on it - there's plenty of stuff out there and these questions have been considered for some time. It would be the government of the United States making reparations, the same government of the United States that has been in place since the 1700s. And I don't think we really want to compare the prejudices our grandparents may have endured when they came here to the brutality and the enduring legacy of slavery.

At this point hunterme I'm pretty sure the Federal Gov. would be paying. No one is going to track down the great great great......................grandchildren of so and so and repo their home because their ancestor was a slave owner.

Or was that directed to steph....sorry well who ever wants it it's yours, lol.

I know what you are saying hypno. Ironically on Law and Order right now, Briscoe said to Green about racism, "What is the matter Ed? I sold my plantation generations ago".

It's a nice gesture. But it loses some meaning because it is ancestors appologizing to ancestors - no one was involved first hand.

Stephley, "the government of the United States" is not a specific answer. The government doesn't have it's own money. It can't pay anything without first taking the money from it's citizens. So... would this money be taken in taxes from the same people it seeks to repay? If not, who would be expected to pay these taxes? There's really no morally valid argument for taking this money from anybody who had nothing to do with slavery or Jim Crow laws.

It is not the current tax payers who instituted this matter. Your comments like "read up on it" are condescending by the way. I am sorry I, and others, are not the experts who would like to think we are. However, that does not make us any less of a person than you. You are going to say this is not your intention, but it comes off that way.

I can see what stephly is saying about the whole country having benefited from salvery, but I can also understand what others are saying about it being a different generation than the one that did the enslaving. I think this is why I'm torn about reparations. I don't think that the descendants of slave owners should pay a blood debt to the great grand children of slaves. That would be silly. I'm not sure I want the goverment to write a check to individuals, either. My ancesters didn't own salves. So would my tax money be used to pay reparations? To me that just doesn't make sense. What I would prefer as a form of reparations would be to see money that would go to individuals, be used to better the community. Use the money to build a school and to pay teachers or to put in a park or something. Put in a free early childhood learning/ daycare center. I think something that helps the whole community in the long run is a better idea than to give people big hunks of money.

I hope this post made sense. I did start to ramble.

Kastarte, your suggestion that reparations would be better spent on communities than individuals is a good idea, but it still doesn't answer the same important question; Which communities does the money go to, and which communities is it taken from?

I totally agree with Hypno. though i still see the effects of slavery today and i am a black foreigner i still do wander is it any help for an apology? i feel like no matter how much apology is given , African Americans are never going to be satisfied. the pain seems to forever there.no one can pacify the hurt brought down from generations and i don't think any sum of money can rectify that. its a much freer America now , i think all should take advantage of that and be happy. i don't want to downplay what they went through, and i am sure they still see the remnants of that today but what can an apology possibly do to make anyone feel better? am i missing something? afterall i am a foreigner but my ancestors went through hardly anything compared to my American brethren.

Michelin, I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I am half black and half white. Third generation on each side. My ancesters didn't own slaves, nor were they enslaved (at least not in America). So would my taxes pay for reparations when no one in my family tree was to blame? Seems unfair if I put it like that. On the other hand, have I benefited in some sort of indirect way from the way slavery helped build America's wealth? Of course I have benefited from being born in this country and this country is the way it is because of it's past. On a personal level, I just can't answer your question. I don't have a reasonable solution.

I'm not sure our country is right now in a position where funds can be set aside for reparations. I think right now, taxes are best spent elsewhere. This is what keeps me torn about reparations. I think it is a lovely idea, but I'm just not sure it is practical.

I think we should make a memorial, but if we're going to do reparations, than let's repay the American Indians, Mexico, The Phillipinos, Haitians ... the list is pretty extensive of those who paid for our empire.

You forgot the Irish Rac. They were treated just as badly.

haha I mentioned it earlier GS... I got you covered babe!

I'm all Irish one side, all Viking the other. That is why we are pale giants in my family!

haha my family was royalty in Ireland (thus, my icon ). Never mind we were illegitimate!

hunter, you said it beautifully

Look, most of the people around and influencing matters now are not the ones who perpetuated these offenses or the ones who suffered from them. I've got nothing against this gesture, but it seems to me that movements like this--even if they're from the direct descendants of the perpetuators, and that doesn't seem to be 100% the case--aren't particularly meaningful. They're gestures.

The only thing that matters and the only thing that will show that we as a country have moved on from these horrors is how we move forward from now. And that has nothing to do with apologizing for the past (which most of us are not responsible for) and everything to do with working towards the future.

Jude

I'll tell you what would satisfy me a national monument depicting the African slave, perhaps a bronze sculpture oh say 10' to 20' tall in the likeness of an African slave man and women standing strong & tall and the plaque would display the official apology and educate, celebrate, & give full acknowledgment of how this country was built on their backs.

There are enough other things our government should be apologizing for to worry about apologizing for something that happened multiple generations ago. Whites were slaves in European countries way back when, should we "commoners" expect and apology for those atrocities?

Raci, a number of states have paid reparations to Native Americans, including nearly a billion dollars in Alaska and tens of millions in Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida.

Before I made my first comment on this thread, I went and read up on reparations - all I was suggesting was that you try that because I don't consider myself an expert. If you're not satisfied with the fact that it is the government of the United States making the decisions, the apology and any future payments, go find a better answer.

Every generation in the U.S. has in some way benefitted from slave labor - they had a huge hand in building this country and no say in how it was run. The post refers to slavery AND Jim Crow laws - discrimination didn't end with the Civil War. It wasn't until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that Congress finally came down with a fist on discriminatory efforts to block voting - and even since then there have been problems as we all know.

I know this is really rare, UD, but I have to agree with you here

I'm Asian-American, Chinese and Taiwanese by descent, and I can honestly say that I have never blamed, or expected apologies from, the descendants of the people who harmed or oppressed my ancestors way back when. I don't expect an apology or reparations from the Japanese for the Rape of Nanking or from the Manchurians for, well, the entire Q'ing Dynasty. It's in the past. We are all different people now.

Jude, you put it so well! I am not saying that just because I love you (well, we know this!), but you put it so nicely and rationally!

I love you too, hunter This is why we work well together sharing husbands!

In all seriousness, it's just always bothered me that current generations can be made to feel guilty for the (admittedly horrific) sins of past generations. I know that America still has terrible race issues to work through, but I just don't see how it's productive to pin any of our current problems on the sins of the past. I can understand the logic, I just don't think it's productive--quite the opposite.

I have one uncle who still militantly hates the Japanese for what they did to us during WW II, but the rest of my family--including my grandma and grandpa, who actually suffered through those times--is all, "Oh, just shut up already. Times have changed."

I can relate Jude. I know that there is a terrible past, but to make us feel as if we were the ones who did it through guilt tactics does nothing other than continue stereotypes and assumptions. We should move forward and work on issues that we can fix today.

Jude - It's nice to see that we agree on some things.

But Jude, Nanking and the use of comfort women still cause trouble in diplomatic relations between Japan and other countries, don't they - I know there have been talks between Japan and the Philippines and Japan and South Korea. It's not just a matter of the victims getting over it; the countries still are waiting for Japan to admit that what it did was wrong - as long as Japan refuses to apologize there are lingering doubts as to whether Japan considers what it did to be wrong. It's that whole 'those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it thing.'

I agree with the facts of your point UnDave yes the world has basically F'd each other over from the dawn of society to the present, but I have to disagree with your reasoning.

I don't know if this makes any sense but this isn't for people who don't need an apology this is for the people who do. Hell I can care less about an apology but I can understand why one is needed. This is about U.S. history and what took place under our government. Sure the caretakers may be generations apart but they represent the same government that has presided over all that has been said and done in the name of the United States. There for the current caretakers should stand up and apologize for the wrongs of our nation that have never been officially apologized for. Yes it is symbolic but symbolism does not negate the unfinished business of an apology especially when the residue of bigotry and the pain of slavery still live on today. Maybe not in my life thoughts and actions, but maybe that 90 year old African American who remembers her Uncle being lynched or sitting in the back of the bus and chased by police dogs maybe she needs the apology.

It's one thing to recognize the impracticality of reparations but to bemoan the simple act of a sincere expression of regret for actions that were once sanctioned by a nation whose own declaration says "all men are created equal" yet in the same breath treated some men as property is in my opinion short sighted.

About reparations: For starters, I know of some "state owned" land and property in Louisiana that was stripped from my family in the Jim Crow days. We'd like that back now, thanks.

I would never say that a Congressional apology about this is "not necessary", but I will say it doesn't change anything or help much. It's very, very late. And it's poorly timed. With the economy, housing market, and job availability and security hurting and scaring us, I'm lucky I even noticed this post to know this apology was given.

Very well put Hypno, as always.

Yeah....I second that Hypno!

Yes! Indeed Congress shouldve apologized! I have a great grandparent that deserves it. And not only that..........me, my people, and our communities are still effected by the aftermath of slavery to this day.

So....we deserve it aswell!

I absolutely believe that an apology was appropriate and useful.

However, what no one ever seems to do is put this in historical perspective. The United States was not the first or last nation to outlaw slavery. Many (Most?) of the slaves were rounded up and sold by enemy tribes in Africa, prisoners of war, so to speak. At the time this was an accepted practice.

As for reparations, what about all the current government programs to aid low-income people? They are not targeted or limited to African Americans, but they are a benefit to many of them.

I understand that one of the longstanding injuries remaining from the days of slavery is the enduring damage to family structure. However, the biggest source of family and cultural damage in the African American community today is the gangster / rapper culture. It demeans women, devalues children, and glamorizes violence and drug use. Therefore, much of the current injury is self-inflicted, and is continuing to pass down through the generations.

The interesting thing about this is that I was speaking with a coworker about a short story I read about reparations being paid only to descendants of Black American slaves that met certain conditions. The conditions were:

-Your ancestors could not have been free before the emancipation proclamation.

-Your ancestors could not have benefited directly from the slave trade.

-Your parents could not have been part of any anti-government organizations.

I have no problem receiving an apology. I doubt if I'll ever see the 40 acres and a mule, but that's another story.

Right now I am in the midst of doing family history and I must say it's pretty hard. So far I've been able to go as far as my great great grandfather on my mother's side who was born in South Carolina. I guess he either took his owners name or made his last name up because I know he was born into slavery. That's as far as I can get because before him my ancestors didn't have last names. I've also done the DNA swab thing which gives me a clue of where my ancestors have come from, but since I am female I can only get mtDNA information. The results came back 100% Temne from Sierra Leone btw.

I know I went on a tangent but I say all this to say that what's wrong with an apology? It's not like after the apology people are going to say hey where's my money. It's not like that. The way I feel about it is every time people say where's your family from and when I reply some where down south. After which their response is either a oh your a smart one or no really where are they from. I don't think people really understand the impact of slavery.

I agree with what a lot of others said. While the apology may not mean much to us, it means a lot to many others and I have no problems with it whatsoever. I do, however, have a problem with reparations, because I think they punish people who had nothing to do with slavery. I understand the argument that we all benefit from the work the slaves put in to building our country, but we also all benefit from the work poor factory workers who were often abused and severely mistreated put in to our country; should we also pay their children reparations? Some factory workers in the North had it worse off than some slaves in the South; how could we ever determine which slaves were treated horribly and which weren't? (Of course, just being seen as someone's property is a horrible thing, but it is documented that there were some benevolent slave owners.)

Oh, I meant to add: I believe we should have a national museum recognizing slavery. Several years ago I recall hearing that someone--perhaps Maya Angelou--was attempting to gather some of the artifacts of slavery for historical purposes. She had a great deal of difficulty doing it in this country, as they have been destroyed, and ended up searching in South America. I think this would help bring the facts to life, and puncture our unspecific images of happy and well-fed workers who just happen to be owned instead of salaried. I also think it would be an excellent gesture toward symbolic reparations.

Here's an example of what I mean. It's old, but makes the point.
http://tinyurl.com/5d25gh

That would be a great idea, Laine. I also like Hypno's monument idea.

Anyone remember the Middle Passage Monument?
http://www.exodusnews.com/worldnews/world020.htm

Of course if financial reparations are ever approved, there'll be a stampede of people looking to add a black ancestor or two to their family tree. Good time to be a geneaologist.

I think we should add the work of the underground railroad to that museum, so show that it wasn't everyone that condoned this.

akyiba- I know what you mean in regards to your family history. My aunt has been trying to figure out where our family is from. She's narrowed it down to the Ellis Island. Unfortunately, the surname he gave didn't match any name on the ship that brought him into the US. My dad suspects that he was a fugitive trying to escape a jail sentence. It's interesting what people could get away with back in the day.