Paris Hilton in a white top, thick gold necklace
In matters of race, it is the one itch we cannot scratch; the stone in our shoe that does not go away, no matter how much we shake it.
Slavery. And the debt it brings Black people from white people. I’m not one of those who shrugs off the value of apologies — even for social injustice…
Anyone who has betrayed a loved one knows why. No one can really move on until the betrayal is admitted, explained and atoned for. It’s why a jilted girlfriend or cuckolded husband insists on hearing the reason why — even when they already know.
But when it comes to slavery, I think white America has already paid that bill as much as it ever will. And insisting on more seems less about healing and progress and more about Black people basking in white folks’ guilt and shame.
Will a slavery apology pull more young Black men from prison, or get more of them through high school and college? Will it curb the alarming tide of AIDS in Black communities or bring Black fathers back into their children’s lives?
Will it pull an ounce of trash from a rundown Black neighborhood or create a single, well paying, working class job?
We have seen institutions apologize for past inequities connected to slavery and Jim Crow…
Did any of these apologies bring new initiatives for covering people of color or insuring underinsured Black neighborhoods? Of course not. Because in America action often stops at apology.
… I suggest we simply look at some institutions that have already apologized for their part in the centuries-long enslavement of Black people.
… No doubt these apology initiatives were undertaken with the best of intentions. But these apologies, passed without a substantial discussion of the White privilege or Black poverty they enabled, were incomplete — like a thief apologizing for stealing your wallet while using your cash to buy his next meal.
Unless an apology for slavery comes with a comprehensive agenda of initiatives aimed at erasing the historic inequities it created, White America can keep it. As any cuckolded husband will tell you, an apology doesn’t mean much if you don’t right the wrong you caused in the first place. ~ Eric Deggans, excerpt from EBONY magazine august 2007
Parisian woman in streets of Paris by the Sartorialist
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs I said to my wife after finding out about her affair and desire to divorce...'make me whole'. Can't be done. What she would do is divvy up material things in a divorce. For reasons such as children and belief I did not go along with divorce. For whatever reason she hasn't taken that further.
So here's the interesting part, and where the analogy continues to me...we remain together. She would be willing to part with material things but that is not my worry or concern. From the beginning I have suggested that we work on things. A bad marriage can be re-created as a good marriage with time, effort and commitment. Same with race relationships and societal harmony. Those things, the necessary things, are the things that are withheld. I want a sign of some remorse. Once that appears the rest is work but worthwhile work that can be gotten through because there is promise at the other end.
Like slavery or any injustice this winds it's way through the kids lives. They are better off than shuttling between houses with a new 'uncle' or 'friend' their some mornings...but they are not well served by lack of healing.
As Fr. Jacques Philippe says, unless you forgive you remain tied to the person and thing which has hurt you. Forgiveness is not easy and it is often given in little bits. If black people can forgive the effects of slavery they will find riches beyond material compensation and will likely change more white hearts than ever imagined.