Admitting the nation's mistakes is an honorable deed, true. However, at this point apologizing would just create more problems than it would heal. As much as I think Jesse Jackson abuses the racial issue to remain in the limelight, to maintain his fame, and because the end of racial issues in this country would mean he was out of a job, when President Clinton was asked to apologize for slavery in 1997, Jesse called such an apology "a meaningless gesture with no meaningful commitment to deal with the impact of something as serious as slavery."
USA Today recently wrote an article with the following observations in it:
"The success of the Obama candidacy underscores the irrelevance of an apology" because it shows "enormous progress" in race relations, says Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative group that describes itself as opposed to racial preferences. "Haven't we already moved beyond it?" ....
"A mere apology doesn't do anything for me," says state Rep. Talibdin El-Amin, a Democrat who is lobbying for such a resolution in Missouri.
Furthermore, a Nightline poll of the American people in 1997 found 56% of the people against it (not that popularism is all it is cracked up to be).
There can be no doubt that slavery was wrong, but some things you can't apologize for - you have to show your sincere regret through your actions. With the recent elevation of such notables as Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, and others to national recognition, positions of both power and trust, and recognized their capable performance in those duties, with Obama's success at making a campaign without the race issue rearing its ugly head (except in the specific case of Reverend Wright's divisive remarks and Bill Clinton's heinous remarks about Obama's wins in the South), we as a nation have shown ourselves elevated above our history. There is no need to apologize, our actions speak for themselves.
An apology, words, cannot make up for this:
Only the actions of the nation at large can. The USA has done so, we have elevated ourselves above our history, again.
Racial incidents in this country have become anecdotal. The continuous discussion of the topic, the occasional anecdotal evidence (there will always be some ignorant dumb@$$ out there, no matter how enlightened society becomes), and the few who make their fortunes and fame on the subject are the only reason there is still a debate in this country. IF we let it die, it will go away - two toddlers who meet will play innocently and cutely no matter if their skin is black, white, red, yellow, or green. It doesn't even occur to them to care.
Slavery is our history, not our legacy. Our legacy, rather, is the spirit of freedom that allowed us to rise above our history.
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