[VAcourier] Slavery Apology Substitute Bill

[Virginia Division SCV Communication List]

The following is the rewritten "slavery apology" bill that is before the 
House of Delegates (another version is before the Senate).  While this 
bill may not be suitable to everyone's liking, it is certainly an 
improvement over the original.  The prior bill sought to lay blame on 
one group without mentioning the complicity of African slave traders and 
black slave owners. The resolution skirts those issues, but does 
acknowledge that the resolution cannot "nor can it justly impute fault 
or responsibility to succeeding generations or justify the imposition of 
new benefits or burdens (no reperations)"  This matter is one that has 
taken alot of time and everyone who contacted their representatives 
about this bill should be commended.  While it does appear that the bill 
will pass in some form at least this version is not as full of venom as 
the original.  It may be beneficial to contact your Senator and let him 
or her know that the House Substitute of HJ728 is more acceptable than 
the Senate version.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?ses=071&typ=bil&val=hj728

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 728

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the House Committee on Rules

on January 31, 2007)

(Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate McEachin)

Acknowledging the contributions of varied races and cultures to the 
character of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and expressing profound 
regret for slavery and other historic wrongs rooted in racial and 
cultural bias and misunderstanding.

Whereas, 2007 marks the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English 
settlement in the Americas, at Jamestown; and

Whereas, the racial, ethnic and cultural diversity that has uniquely 
defined America began at Jamestown, in the Virginia colony, with the 
early encounters and interactions among the native peoples, Europeans, 
and Africans; and

Whereas, despite the acute hardship, conflict, cruelty, and oppression 
that characterized those first encounters and interactions, Virginians 
of native, European, and African descent persevered and made 
indispensable contributions to the survival of the colony, the founding 
of our good Commonwealth and nation, and the forging of our national 
character and culture; and

Whereas, the legacies of the Jamestown settlement and the Virginia 
colony include ideas, institutions, and a history that have been central 
to the distinctive American experiment in democracy and the global 
advance of democratic principles, including representative government, 
the rule of law, and recognition and protection of human rights, among 
them, religious freedom, property rights and free enterprise, freedom of 
expression, and the whole constellation of liberties enshrined in the 
Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Virginia and United States 
Constitutions; and

Whereas, the foremost expression of these ideals that bind us as a 
people is found in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims as 
"self-evident" the truths "that all men are created equal; that they are 
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among 
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"; and

Whereas, despite its "self-evident" character, this fundamental 
principle and moral standard of liberty and equality has been 
transgressed during much of Virginian and American history, and our 
Commonwealth and nation are still working toward fulfillment of the 
ideals proclaimed by the founders and toward the "more perfect union" 
that is the aspiration of our national identity and charter; and

Whereas, these transgressions include egregious wrongs visited upon 
Virginia's native peoples, including dispossession of their lands, 
violations of solemn covenants and agreements, enforcement of "racial 
integrity" laws and other policies that denied their ethnic identity and 
undermined their cultural heritage, and other forms of discrimination; and

Whereas, these transgressions include the immoral institution of human 
slavery, an institution directly antithetical to and irreconcilable with 
the fundamental principle of human equality and freedom, and which, 
having been sanctioned and perpetuated through the laws of Virginia and 
the United States, ranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of 
human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's 
history; and

Whereas, the abolition of slavery was not followed by prompt fulfillment 
of those founding ideals, but rather 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; and

Whereas, despite our collective pursuit of freedom and justice for all, 
and our Commonwealth's and nation's remarkable progress toward that 
noble end, no people or group in the four centuries since Jamestown's 
settlement has been untouched and unaffected by racial and cultural 
bias, bigotry, and misunderstanding, resulting discrimination, and their 
sad legacies; and

Whereas, the government of this Commonwealth of Virginia, like all 
governments in free societies, is but a manifestation of human will, 
animated by high ideals but admitting of irremediable flaws, and thus 
susceptible to evil and error even as it aspires to goodness and truth; and

Whereas, even the most abject apology for past wrongs cannot right them, 
nor can it justly impute fault or responsibility to succeeding 
generations or justify the imposition of new benefits or burdens, yet 
the spirit of true repentance on behalf of a government, and, through 
it, a people, can serve to bring closure, to reconcile and heal, and to 
recall and remind so that past wrongs may never be repeated and manifest 
injustice may not again be overlooked; and

Whereas, in recent decades Virginians have affirmed the founding ideals 
of liberty and equality by, among many other acts, providing some of the 
nation's foremost trailblazers for civil rights, giving formal legal 
recognition to the state's Indian tribes, and electing a grandson of 
slaves to the Commonwealth's highest elective office; and

Whereas, such acts affirming the founding ideals of liberty and equality 
have provided a wholesome example for the nation, a form of leadership 
befitting the Commonwealth's unsurpassed tradition of leadership since 
the founding of Jamestown, and suggest that this legislative expression, 
the first of its kind in this country, may likewise set a positive 
example for citizens and their governments in other states; and

Whereas, racial and cultural diversity, and the distinctive 
contributions of peoples from all around the world, have enriched and 
prospered this Commonwealth during the four centuries since the 
settlement of Jamestown, and are cause for much thanksgiving and 
celebration; and

Whereas, the story of Virginia and its diverse peoples during these 
first four centuries is a story of unparalleled achievement despite 
adversity, of great struggle and sacrifice, vision and virtue, as 
integral to the larger American story as hope is integral to the 
American spirit; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the 
General Assembly acknowledge and recognize the many contributions made 
by people of diverse cultures and backgrounds that have shaped the 
character and enriched the culture of our Commonwealth; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the General Assembly hereby acknowledge and 
express its profound regret for the Commonwealth's role in sanctioning 
the immoral institution of human slavery, in the historic wrongs visited 
upon native peoples, and in all other forms of discrimination and 
injustice that have been rooted in racial and cultural bias and 
misunderstanding; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That on the occasion of Virginia's 400th anniversary, 
the General Assembly call upon the citizens of the Commonwealth to enter 
into a spirit of thanksgiving for the contributions made by Virginians 
of diverse cultures and backgrounds to the advance of freedom, justice, 
democracy, and opportunity in America and the world, of solemn 
remembrance of the struggles and sacrifices that attended those 
contributions, and of celebration of the promise the future holds for 
fulfilling our shared ideal of "one nation, under God, with liberty and 
justice for all."


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