Resolution on slavery advanced to Legislature
Posted: Thursday, April 10, 2008
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- State lawmakers will consider a resolution that expresses "profound regret" for slavery and condemns racial discrimination against African Americans, but doesn't include an apology.
Members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee struggled on Wednesday with the language of the resolution, ultimately deciding to remove reference to an apology and advancing it to the full Legislature for debate.
"An apology ... is something that happens between two people after a misdeed, and as a state, I think all we can do is express our profound regret," said Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha.
The Nebraska Territory banned slavery in 1861, the year the Civil War started. But Nebraska was a center of turmoil over slavery in the 1800s because Iowa was a free state and Missouri was a slave state, according to the resolution from Sen. Dwite Pedersen of Omaha.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened lands west of the Missouri River to white settlement, allowed settlers to decide for themselves whether to own slaves. Historians say there are reports of about a dozen slaves near Nebraska City in 1860.
Lawmakers in New Jersey, Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia have issued apologies for slavery.
Pedersen wanted the state to issue a formal apology, saying it would be "a tool of healing" for black Americans still subjected to racial discrimination. Slavery, he said, played a part in creating the discrimination that still exists today.
"That's what we're apologizing for -- it is the trickle-down effect that's still here," Pedersen said.
Faced with opposition to an apology that threatened to scuttle his resolution, Pedersen agreed to the new language that expresses regret.
But Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, the Legislature's only black senator, is expected to try to restore the original language of the resolution.
"It's my responsibility as a descendant of slaves ... to take this opportunity to say things that need to be said," he said.
After Lathrop said an apology wouldn't be appropriate, Chambers said: "I'm entitled to something."
"Do I feel hatred for this country?" he added later. "Yes, I do."
After it became clear that a few members of the Judiciary Committee opposed an apology, Chambers, who is also on the committee, walked out of the room, saying, "You can kill (the resolution) for all I care."
Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha argued against the apology, saying slavery is not the sole or even primary cause of racial discrimination. He also brought up the 1861 vote by the Nebraska Territory to ban slavery and said, "We were on the side of the Union."
"I don't know what it does," Ashford said of issuing an apology. "In a way, it's too easy.
"I think we need to move on and address racial discrimination."
On the Net:
Nebraska Legislature: http://www.nebraskalegislature.gov
Members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee struggled on Wednesday with the language of the resolution, ultimately deciding to remove reference to an apology and advancing it to the full Legislature for debate.
"An apology ... is something that happens between two people after a misdeed, and as a state, I think all we can do is express our profound regret," said Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha.
The Nebraska Territory banned slavery in 1861, the year the Civil War started. But Nebraska was a center of turmoil over slavery in the 1800s because Iowa was a free state and Missouri was a slave state, according to the resolution from Sen. Dwite Pedersen of Omaha.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened lands west of the Missouri River to white settlement, allowed settlers to decide for themselves whether to own slaves. Historians say there are reports of about a dozen slaves near Nebraska City in 1860.
Lawmakers in New Jersey, Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia have issued apologies for slavery.
Pedersen wanted the state to issue a formal apology, saying it would be "a tool of healing" for black Americans still subjected to racial discrimination. Slavery, he said, played a part in creating the discrimination that still exists today.
"That's what we're apologizing for -- it is the trickle-down effect that's still here," Pedersen said.
Faced with opposition to an apology that threatened to scuttle his resolution, Pedersen agreed to the new language that expresses regret.
But Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, the Legislature's only black senator, is expected to try to restore the original language of the resolution.
"It's my responsibility as a descendant of slaves ... to take this opportunity to say things that need to be said," he said.
After Lathrop said an apology wouldn't be appropriate, Chambers said: "I'm entitled to something."
"Do I feel hatred for this country?" he added later. "Yes, I do."
After it became clear that a few members of the Judiciary Committee opposed an apology, Chambers, who is also on the committee, walked out of the room, saying, "You can kill (the resolution) for all I care."
Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha argued against the apology, saying slavery is not the sole or even primary cause of racial discrimination. He also brought up the 1861 vote by the Nebraska Territory to ban slavery and said, "We were on the side of the Union."
"I don't know what it does," Ashford said of issuing an apology. "In a way, it's too easy.
"I think we need to move on and address racial discrimination."
On the Net:
Nebraska Legislature: http://www.nebraskalegislature.gov
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Dennis wrote on Apr 11, 2008 4:30 PM:
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Silent Warrior` wrote on Apr 10, 2008 9:58 AM:
oh brother!!!! wrote on Apr 10, 2008 8:47 AM: