According to the Associated Press the sky is falling in Virginia. Last August Senator George Allen used the term “macaca” in referring to a man of Indian descent who was working for his political opponent. Now a state legislator, Frank D. Hargrove, has “sparked outrage” by saying that “our black citizens should get over it (slavery)” and telling a Jewish colleague that his skin is “a little too thin.” These last remarks were made during the debate of a proposed apology by the state to descendants of slaves.
I won’t defend or condemn Hargrove because I don’t know the tone or complete context of his remarks, but I do believe that it would be better for Virginia and the whole country if we could all just move on. Slavery was a deplorable practice. It should never have happened in a civilized society. But now it has been almost 150 years since anyone was held as a slave in this country. No one alive today was a slave or owned a slave in this country. Who is going to do the apologizing and to whom are they going to apologize?
Are whites in general expected to apologize to blacks in general? If so, isn’t that profiling? None of the ancestors of many whites ever owned slaves. None of the ancestors of many blacks were ever slaves. In order to be politically correct any apology would have to be watered down to the point that it becomes a non-apology — like those we are accustomed to hearing from politicians and celebrities: On behalf of all who inflicted harm through the institution of slavery in America the state apologizes to all those harmed.