Friday, July 11, 2003
Derrick Z. Jackson isn't very impressed with President Bush's recent statements regarding slavery.
Boston Globe Online / Editorials | Opinions / Where is the apology for slavery?
It would officially recognize that European-Americans, whether they come from a long line of American citizens or whether their parents came over dirt poor from Europe in the 20th century, continue to benefit from a white privilege that allowed them to move up the ladder into the suburbs. Meanwhile, slavery's replacement, segregation, blocked generations of African-Americans from building up wealth because of redlining, intellectual capital through inferior public schools, and political capital through disenfranchisement.[...]
Hmmm...I'm beginning to sense some of the problem. An apology is also a mea culpea, and we can predict the editorials that will follow such a statement, "What good are empty words without action...?" In today's litigious society, we know what follows an admission of responsibility - cash payments.
Who would the President apologize on behalf of? All Americans? No, not black folk. What about the descendants of Civil War Union veterans? I see Mr. Jackson has conveniently included all light-hued people in his accusation of culpability, whether they marched for and supported the Civil Rights movement, volunteered to help minorities, voted for candidates that supported Affirmative Action, didn't even arrive in this country for a century after slavery ended... Jackson provides us with a deffinition of culpability so broad that almost no one can possibly escape, regardless of what they, as individuals may have done.
Mr. Jackson, I'll bet you, yourself, receive a paycheck and are rather well enriched by some of those beneficiaries of slavery. Feeling guilty?
