[VAcourier] Slavery Resolution Article and update

Sat Feb 24 19:14:29 EST 2007

The Virginia General Assembly adopted a revised "slavery apology" 
today.  Although the adopted version does not acknowledge the existence 
of Black Slaveowners or Black Slave Traders complicity in the matter, it 
is more accurate and tolerable than the original proposals.  Below is an 
article on the matter, notice the reporter's reference to "Confederates" 
as if slavery was only a Confederate issue.  How easily our yankee 
friends forget that Massachussets, the home of radicals, first legalized 
slavery nearly 20 years before Virginia did.  The language of the bill 
follows the article.

  Virginia lawmakers express 'profound regret' for slavery

By LARRY O'DELL
Associated Press Writer
February 24, 2007
RICHMOND, Va. -- Meeting on the grounds of the former Confederate 
Capitol, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously Saturday to 
express "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery.

Sponsors of the resolution say they know of no other state that has 
apologized for slavery, although Missouri lawmakers are considering such 
a measure. The resolution does not carry the weight of law but sends an 
important symbolic message, supporters said.

"This session will be remembered for a lot of things, but 20 years hence 
I suspect one of those things will be the fact that we came together and 
passed this resolution," said Del. A. Donald McEachin, a Democrat who 
sponsored it in the House.

The resolution, which does not require Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's approval, 
passed the House 96-0 and cleared the Senate on a unanimous voice vote 
on the final day of the 2007 General Assembly session. There was no 
debate in either chamber.

The Senate and the House had previously passed differing versions of the 
measure. The final product was drafted by a panel of six legislators who 
took "the best features of both" resolutions, said Sen. Henry Marsh, 
D-Richmond and sponsor of the resolution in the Senate.

The resolution expresses regret for "the exploitation of Native 
Americans" as well as slavery.

The measure was introduced as Virginia begins its celebration of the 
400th anniversary of Jamestown, where the first Africans arrived in 
1619. Richmond, home to a popular boulevard lined with statues of 
Confederate heroes, later became another point of arrival for Africans 
and a slave-trade hub.

The resolution says 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."

In Virginia, black voter turnout was suppressed with a poll tax and 
literacy tests before those practices were struck down by federal 
courts, and state leaders responded to federally ordered school 
desegregation with a "Massive Resistance" movement in the 1950s and 
early '60s.

The apology is the latest in a series of strides Virginia has made in 
overcoming its segregationist past. Virginia was the first state to 
elect a black governor--L. Douglas Wilder in 1989--and the Legislature 
took a step toward atoning for Massive Resistance in 2004 by creating a 
scholarship fund for blacks whose schools were shut down between 1954 
and 1964.

Among those voting for the measure was Delegate Frank D. Hargrove, an 
80-year-old Republican who infuriated black leaders last month by saying 
"black citizens should get over" slavery.

After enduring a barrage of criticism, Hargrove successfully 
co-sponsored a resolution calling on Virginia to celebrate "Juneteenth," 
a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 332

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the Joint Conference Committee

on February 24, 2007)

(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Marsh)

Acknowledging with profound regret the involuntary servitude of Africans 
and the exploitation of Native Americans, and calling for reconciliation 
among all Virginians.

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

WHEREAS, the legacies of the Jamestown settlement and the Virginia 
colony include ideas, institutions, a history distinctive to the 
American experiment in democracy, and a constellation of liberties 
enshrined in the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Virginia and 
United States Constitutions; and

WHEREAS, the foremost expression of the ideals that bind us together 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 the "self-evident" character of these fundamental 
principles, the moral standards of liberty and equality have been 
transgressed during much of Virginia's and America's history, and our 
Commonwealth and nation are striving to fulfill the ideals proclaimed by 
the founders to secure the "more perfect union" that is the aspiration 
of our national identity and charter; and

WHEREAS, these transgressions include the maltreatment and exploitation 
of Native Americans and the immoral institution of human slavery, 
policies and systems directly antithetical to and irreconcilable with 
the fundamental principle of human equality and freedom; and

WHEREAS, Native Americans inhabited the land throughout the New World 
and were the "first people" the early English settlers met upon landing 
on the shores of North America at Jamestown in 1607; and

WHEREAS, records relating to the early relations between Native 
Americans and the settlers indicate "the Mattaponi, a part of the 
powerful Powhatan chiefdom, greeted settlers in 1607 and, along with 
other Powhatan tribes, were visited by Captain John Smith," that "the 
Chickahominy Tribe had early contact with the English settlers due to 
their proximity to Jamestown," and that "the Rappahannock Indians, 
possessing thirteen villages on the south and north sides of the 
Rappahannock River, first spoke to Captain John Smith in 1608 at their 
kingstowne, 'Cat Point Creek'"; and

WHEREAS, Native Americans provided food for the settlers, aiding the 
survival of 32 settlers during the first winter and later taught them 
how to grow crops; and

WHEREAS, Native American leaders have worked diligently to preserve and 
protect their heritage, history, and culture, and when public education 
was denied Native American children, the leaders ensured their 
children's education by sending them to American Indian schools in 
Oklahoma and Kansas; and

WHEREAS, Virginia enacted laws to restrict the rights and liberties of 
Native Americans, including their ability to travel, testify in court, 
and inherit property, and a rigid social code created segregated schools 
and churches for whites, African Americans, and Native Americans; and

WHEREAS, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 which institutionalized the 
"one drop rule," required a racial description of every person to be 
recorded at birth and banned interracial marriages, effectively 
rendering Native Americans with African ancestry extinct, and these 
policies have destroyed the ability of many of Virginia's indigenous 
people to prove continuous existence in order to gain federal 
recognition and the benefits such recognition confers; and

WHEREAS, during the course of the infamous Atlantic slave trade, 
millions of Africans became involuntary immigrants to the New World, and 
the first African slaves in the North American colonies were brought to 
Jamestown in 1619; and

WHEREAS, slavery, or the "Peculiar Institution," in the United States 
resembled no other form of involuntary servitude, as Africans were 
captured and sold at auction as chattel, like inanimate property or 
animals; and

WHEREAS, to prime Africans for slavery, the ethos of the Africans was 
shattered, they were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected 
to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage, and 
families were disassembled as husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, 
and fathers and sons were sold into slavery apart from one another; and

WHEREAS, slavery, 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 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; and

WHEREAS, the most abject apology for past wrongs cannot right them; yet 
the spirit of true repentance on behalf of a government, and, through 
it, a people, can promote reconciliation and healing, and avert the 
repetition of past wrongs and the disregard of manifested injustices; and

WHEREAS, in recent decades, Virginia's affirmation of the founding 
ideals of liberty and equality have been made evident by providing some 
of the nation's foremost trailblazers for civil rights and electing a 
grandson of slaves to the Commonwealth's highest elective office; and

WHEREAS, the story of Virginia's Native Americans and the enslavement of 
Africans and their descendants, the human carnage, and the dehumanizing 
atrocities committed during colonization and slavery, and, moreover, the 
faith, perseverance, hope, and endless triumphs of Native Americans and 
African Americans and their significant contributions to this 
Commonwealth and the nation should be embraced, celebrated, and retold 
for generations to come; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the 
General Assembly hereby acknowledge with profound regret the involuntary 
servitude of Africans and the exploitation of Native Americans, and call 
for reconciliation among all Virginians; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the 
settlement at Jamestown, the General Assembly call upon the people of 
the Commonwealth to express acknowledgment and thanksgiving for the 
contributions of Native Americans and African Americans to the 
Commonwealth and this nation, and to the propagation of the ideals of 
liberty, justice, and democracy; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the Senate shall post this 
resolution on the General Assembly's website.

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