Posted on 03/08/2007 2:42:49 PM PST by shrinkermd
Both chambers of the Commonwealth of Virginia's General Assembly passed a resolution saying government-sanctioned slavery "ranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history; and . . . the abolition of slavery was followed by . . . systematic discrimination, enforced segregation, and other insidious institutions and practices toward Americans of African descent that were rooted in racism, racial bias, and racial misunderstanding." The General Assembly also expressed regret for the "exploitation of Native Americans."
If Richmond schools did a better job instilling values, Denise Armstrong says, she wouldn’t have to home-teach her son Timothy Isn't that nice? I agree that slavery was an abomination, but I'm going to be even more generous than Virginia's General Assembly.
I regret the murder of an estimated 61 million people whom the former USSR executed, slaughtered, starved, beat or tortured to death.
I also regret the Chinese government's slaughter of 45 million Chinese; Hitler's slaughter of 6 million Jews; the Khmer Rouge's murder of 2 million Cambodians; the half a million Ugandans murdered by Idi Amin's death squads; the million Hutus and Tutsis murdered in Rwanda's genocidal bloodbath; and slavery that still exists in the Sudan and Mauritania.
All these and more are horrible injustices at least as horrible as the slavery that existed in the U.S. But after all the regrets and apologies for injustices, what comes next?
Let's examine Virginia's statement of regret with an eye toward what it might mean.
I can personally relate to the Virginia General Assembly's declaration. My great-grandparents were slaves in the Virginia cities of Chase City and Newport News. The General Assembly's statement of regret for slavery means absolutely nothing to me. If anything, it's a cheap insult and capitulation of white delegates to black hustlers. Possibly, the whites who voted in support of the declaration were mau-maued into it or they felt guilt over our history of slavery.
In any case, they should know that their actions mean little in dealing with the day-to-day plight of many black Virginians — which has nothing to do with slavery.
The U.S. murder rate is 5.6 people per 100,000 of the population. In the Commonwealth of Virginia's capital, Richmond, where the General Assembly meets, the murder rate is 43 people per 100,000 of the population, making Richmond the city with the third-highest murder rate in the nation, according to a 2005 FBI report.
What about black education in Virginia? According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), black education is a disgrace. In 2003, 51% of black eighth-graders scored below basic; 49% at or above basic; of these, only 11% scored proficient. For black fourth-graders, the scores were 34%, 66% and 13%, respectively.
In 2002 in reading, 38% of black eighth-graders scored below basic, with 62% at or above basic and 15% scoring proficient. For fourth-graders, the scores were 53%, 47% and 15%, respectively.
Below basic is the category the NAEP uses for students unable to display even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level.
Given this extreme academic incompetence, one shouldn't be surprised by the 2002 Virginia State Education Profile showing that the median combined SAT score for black students is a disgraceful 848 out of 1600, 210 points below the white median, and the white median is nothing to write home about.
The next time the Virginia General Assembly gets into an apologetic mood and wants to pass another resolution aimed at its black citizens, here are my suggestions:
1. The Commonwealth of Virginia apologizes to its black citizens for not protecting them from criminals who prey upon them and make their lives a daily nightmare.
2. The Commonwealth also apologizes for our government-sanctioned school system that delivers fraudulent education, thereby consigning many of its black citizens to the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.
Good editorial -as always from WW.
Dr. Williams is actually smarter than most people, period.
They're just acting like Randy Marsh.
So, nobody who ever owned slaves apologized to nobody who was ever a slave. Kind of a waste of legislative time, me thinks.
Yep. An apology by people that didn't commit an act, to people that weren't the victims of the act, is pretty much the definition of hollow.
Maybe I could apologize to the English for my ancestors (the Vikings) rowing over every now and then and running off with all the prettiest blonde women.
Uh... on second thought, that worked out pretty well, explaining at least in part why there is not a "British Bikini Team". Nevermind. :-)
Forget apologizing for slavery. Virginia needs to apologize for sending a leftist demagogue and traitor like James Webb to the Senate.
[snicker]
Quite.
Can't do it. The vast majority of those criminals are black, and for some odd reason the black "community" and "leaders" always spring to their defense.
I feel no need to protect white criminals, why are blacks so anxious to protect black criminals?
Talk is cheap.
Common denominator: folks killed by governments
Seems to me that the Democrat Party ought to be apologizing and paying reparations for slavery.
After all, the Democrats were the party of slavery and Jim Crow.
HEY! My entire family voted for George Allen! Unfortunately, Sidarth, one of my classmates, caused the macaca "incident." Sorry.
I forgive you. (I won't let on that my state owes the nation an even bigger apology for electing the twin trollops of Trotskyism, Feinstein and Boxer.)
However, If anyone can come up with a living ex-slave, who was a slave antebellum, from Texas, I will tender a humble apology and $100.00 US as well.
Yes, but your state also furnished Ronald Reagan, and for that I just want to say, "Thank you!"
Why thank you! Unfortunately, Reagan was about the last noble national leader California produced--or is likely to produce.
"Kiss it!"
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