On Slavery and Apologies

I continue to work at finishing my book but I did take time to knock out this “Thanks, but no thanks,” piece on the Congressional apology for slavery for politico.com.

Here’s the cornerstone:

The House is likely to soon pass legislation offering a formal apology for slavery. The Senate passed the same resolution on June 18, acknowledging the “injustice, cruelty and brutality” of slavery.

The timing was a sad irony — it passed the Senate the day before Juneteenth. June 19 marks the annual commemoration of the day when slaves in Texas received word of emancipation, more than two years after Lincoln issued his proclamation.

The response to the resolution has been a sort of inverted Juneteenth. The holiday recognizes a grand federal proclamation about slavery that was deliberately withheld from black people. Now Congress is on the verge of passing a grand federal proclamation about slavery, which black America simply chose to ignore. The primary effect of this apology has been the synchronized rolling of 66 million eyes.