Apology Day might free politicians to get back to work
by Bob Hoig, Publisher
Midlands Business Journal
Not meaning to be flip, but it might be time for Americans to observe an informal National Day of Apology.
On a voluntary basis, of course, any American could apologize to any other and hand him or her a dollar, reparations being a buzzword in some circles.
The U.S. Senate set an example this past week by apologizing for slavery — a tragic and evil set of deeds done to ancestors of some people by some ancestors of other people.
None of these relatives, however, are living, nor have they lived for nearly a century and a half. Some never lived in the U.S. at all, being Africans selling other Africans to slave traders.
Select members of the congressional black caucus want to hear more about reparations. The idea seems to be that Americans who never took part in slavery pay other Americans who never suffered under it.
Black caucus members, however, have yet to answer exactly the payment questions of “how,” “how much,” or “to whom?” Even a coherent “why” is missing.
So what’s it all about? Our columnist Walter Williams thinks he has some answers and we recommend his work on page 23.
In addition to an apology and the cross-circulating of dollar bills, a suitable anthem for Apology Day would be “I Apologize,” the hit song popularized by Billy Eckstine in the Fifties: “If I made you cry….” etc.
As president, Bill Clinton was the father of modern apology.
He apologized eight times during August and September for lying to the American people about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern.
Earlier in 1998, he repeatedly and profusely apologized on his so-called African Apology trip for slavery in general and for America’s sin, which he alleged to be for not preventing genocide in Rwanda.
Another high profile apology went to all Los Angeles area black churches during the 2008 presidential primaries. That public contrition was for his comparing Barack Obama’s win in South Carolina to the less portentous 1984 and 1988 victories in that state by Jessie Jackson.
If the truth could be known, there are probably few Americans whose genealogies lack some enslavement.
As for the latest calls for reparations, history has a way of jumbling things up as to who, what, where, when and why.
Many black men and women are incorrectly classified as “African-American.” They really are nothing of the kind, having immigrated in more recent times from lands with no connection to the African continent or to slavery.
It will take national DNA screening to sort out the “worthy,” if that is the word. And results would probably surprise some numbers of so called black and white Americans.
The politically correct apologizing of modern times seems really to be about the politicians and media chattering classes who need to get something off their souls.
In earlier, less grandstanding times, such would have been accomplished in a house of worship, other religious venue or even in one’s home.
But if a voluntary, non work-skipping Day of Apology will help, bring it on!
July 2009
