Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Columns

Apology for slavery could be divisive

By Andrew J. Skerritt
Published March 11, 2008

Virginia did it.

So did New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama. They all apologized for the evils of slavery. Naturally, I usually support such resolutions.

But when I heard that Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, was proposing a resolution formally apologizing for 300 years of slavery in this state, I had the opposite reaction in my gut: Wrong move, wrong time.

Instead of looking for a new strategy to address some of our lingering problems, we keep going back to the same old symbolic fights that do little to improve the everyday lives of the people who need help.

It's not to say we should forget the past, but an apology for slavery is a major distraction, given the dismal state of affairs - lost jobs, home foreclosures, struggling minority students. Rather than apologize, we ought to do more about the plight of young African-American males, who seem more prone to crime, joblessness and hopelessness.

While some legislators sound supportive of the slavery apology resolution, it can easily be exploited by those on the fringe. It can be divisive. Already I can hear the arguments: "My ancestors never owned slaves. We didn't benefit from slavery, so we have nothing to apologize for. It's time for black folks to get over it."

They might be right this time. The timing is odd. Here we have a black man getting serious consideration for the White House.

If Sen. Barack Obama were to become president, imagine how that might affect the wave of apologies for slavery. His election would mean so much symbolically to black people around the world, yet he has no ancestral link to slavery.

Sen. Hill is a descendant of slaves. His resolution would be more significant were it to be initiated by an ol' boy from the Panhandle.

Sadly, many Southerners are unrepentant about slavery and how it still colors everyday life. An ugly past doesn't have to handicap us or our children.

As a descendant of West Indian slaves, I grew up on a British island colony, where we enjoyed enough of the trappings of internal self-government to alleviate the stain of slavery. We were surrounded by black doctors, lawyers, school principals and government ministers. Real or imagined, we believed that we could control our future if we did well in school and worked hard enough. We learned to look forward, not back.

Unfortunately, many African-Americans don't enjoy that luxury. Part of the terrible legacy of slavery is that it's easier to make excuses than to look for opportunities. They're enslaved not just by their past but by their inability to grasp the future.

It will take more than an apology to fix that.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at askerritt@sptimes.com or 813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602.

[Last modified March 10, 2008, 21:43:59]