As an African-American, I say the Senate can STUFF its apology!

[tgnyc]

Monday night, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution formally apologizing for failing to make lynching a federal crime over the century from the end of the Civil War to the 1960's, during which the practice was regularly used without justification on thousands of black men throughout the U.S. South.

There is so much going on in this simple act that demands discussion that we hardly know where to begin. But let’s start here:

The vote was held late at night, all the better not to make it onto the evening news. Also all the better to avoid an actual roll call vote – where each senator would have to actually vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ – since it is easy for senators to make themselves "unavailable" after-hours. Odd actions for a body allegedly expressing its regret to the nation, no?

It seems that as of Monday morning, a little over a dozen senators had failed to sign their names as co-sponsors of the resolution, which was introduced way back in February. And in a remarkable coincidence (not), they all come from the same region of the U.S. (One guess on which region)

<...>

If the Senate is looking for something to apologize to blacks for, how about sending judges to the Supreme Court who failed to enforce the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution for, oh, about a hundred years? Some folks may not have noticed, but during that period the ability of most blacks to advance through the standard institutions of property ownership, education, and career-development was systematically undercut throughout the nation by law and by practice.

How about apologizing for passing that mean-spirited tax cut for rich people a few years back, which will place a crushing debt on the backs of most Americans, but almost all black Americans, a few decades from now?!

And confirming Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court? What's up with that?!!! He was one of just three justices who just this week dissented in a ruling that a black death row convict in Texas was intentionally denied black jurors for no reason other than race. Y’all need to be apologizing for foisting his sorry behind on us!

MORE at www.intelligencesquad.com/id120.html

[aden_nak]

1. I wonder what region of the country those senators were from.

[gratuitous]

3. Hey! Don't bash the South!

Just because all the racists who are afraid of losing their cushy Senate seats are coincidentally Republicans from Southern states!

The Law Dork has identified six of the twenty:

http://www.chrisgeidner.com/blog/archive/003419.html

Shelby AL
Cochran MS
Lott MS (sweep of the Magnolia State!)
Hutchison TX
Cornyn TX (sweep of the Lone Star!)
Alexander TN

[aden_nak]

7. Bash? Naaah, all I did was post a map. ;)

[gratuitous]

8. Just anticipating

I figured the pre-emptive post would give me enough time to pop some popcorn.

[CatWoman]

12. Beetwasher has named all 20

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3855939

[gratuitous]

14. Showoff

He said, with envy.

[CatWoman]

15. *smooch*

she said, with adoration

:D

[burythehatchet]

11. and here I thought that Lamar Alexander had an education

[Double T]

2. The idiots in congress are so busy passing destructive legislation...

they completely forget the really important stuff.

[hlthe2b]

4. I'm with you totally.... In this day and age, this level of vile racial

hatred and bigotry, especially given the unleashed attacks on "non fundie Christians," women, and all who disagree with those RW asses is just devastating. How did our country come to this, where the decent, equitable, sensible voices get drowned out? I am so depressed....

[damntexdem]

5. Agreed: without a rollcall vote, we don't know who voted for it ...

and what scum voted against it.

[melissinha]

6. I agree with you 100%

Its so CONVENIENT that it was late at night, so as to give those lame jerks a reasonable excuse to not be there and then to not lose support from their constituency.. its disgusting.

My Senators... Hutchison and Cornyn... what a disgrace!!!


Not to get off topic... Although I am not an African American... I see the merits of Reparation. I think that the Legislative Branch should really show its apology through funds.... lets see some real productive action here! Screw the retarded "Child Left Behind" BS! Requiring schools that are underfunded to PROVE itself in order to receive funds.. I think that a more sophisticated approach should be used to bring schools up to par. Particularly those that serve minority communities.

[goclark]

20. I agree with the original poster too

[FrenchieCat]

9. yes, I agree....

Stuffing that apology up their ass would certainly do it!

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.--Martin Luther King Jr.--1963

[burythehatchet]

10. rock on!

nominated

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Gee but this is NOT a White Power Party

so stop saying that

They are not fascists, so stop saying that

They are not racist, so stop saying that

:sarcasm:

[candy331]

16. The whole thing is a hatched up bunch of nonsense that Blacks

could give a hoot about. They saw through it before it was hatched. No amount of apology can atone for treating people worse than animals. The atonement will come but it will not be from some phony apology, the Christians should know that.

[gordianot]

17. No reason to stuff Bond from Missouri. He is already stuffed.

and it does not smell very good.

[tokenlib]

18. Perhaps good intent, perhaps simply politics...

..but it really is too little..and much too late. Whenever they apologize for the sins of past generations--it seems a bit weird. If they would back it with ACTION--like supporting voting rights and anti-discrimination efforts--then it makes sense. But especially from THIS congress--it seems empty.

[gratuitous]

19. Sometimes the formalities are important

But it's appalling to know that 20 Senators couldn't sign on to something even this inocuous. The Texans and the Mississipians are not surprising, but Randi Rhodes just said that Gordon Smith in Oregon also failed to get his name on this as a co-sponsor.

Smith isn't on Beetwasher's list of the 20 Shameful Senators, so I called Smith's office to verify that. The nice young man who answered the phone didn't have the information available to him (I wonder how much they'd pay me to set up a database program so all that stuff was right there at their fingertips?), but he said he'd check into it and call me back.

Set your watches: Two minutes and counting.

[Inland]

21. Yeah, you would expect it to be worth some office hour time.

eom

[Logansquare]

22. No, I disagree. The apology was intended to expose the GOP

They've been so proud of their tokens like Clarence and Condi, while systematically disenfranchising black voters and killing urban schools with NCLB...this exposes them as the pack of hypocrites they really are. We must not allow the "No" voters, who voted that way to placate their white racist voter base, to escape complete exposure.

[katinmn]

23. 20 out of 100 would not sign. Disgraceful!

They need to be exposed for the closet racists that they are.