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"We're Sorry"
posted at 2007-04-11 22:40 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
Slavery Apology
State lawmakers made history today by unanimously (both chambers!) passing a resolution apologizing for their predecessors' role in promulgating slavery in North Carolina.
The House voted 117-0 to approve two resolutions together -- a Senate-approved version, authored by Sen. Majority Leader Tony Rand, and a much more explicit House version by Forsyth Dem Larry Womble. The Senate apology has passed both chambers, so it'll be enrolled, while the House version will move on to the Senate. (No word yet on whether they'll take Womble's version up.)
Just because no one opposed the vote doesn't mean House lawmakers didn't have a lot to say about it. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle spent two and a half hours speaking in support of the apology...about their personal experiences with discrimination, about the bigger social issues at play in this apology, and about the hostile feedback they've received from some constituents who see the apology as a waste of time or worse.
In one of the afternoon's more effective speeches, House bill co-sponsor Earline Parmon addressed the doubters, in part by invoking the recent controversy over shock jock Don Imus.
House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman delivered a simple but jaw-dropping history lesson -- three minutes on what the state should apologize for. You can hear it here. It's well worth the download time.
Others were very eloquent, too, and I wish I had time and room to catalog them all here. But in the end, the unanimous vote seemed to underline what sponsor Larry Womble said at the beginning of the debate - right is right.
Reaction
State NAACP President Rev. William Barber was in the gallery for today's debate. Afterward, he reiterated a point made by many lawmakers below on the House floor - that is, repentance doesn't mean much unless you're willing to back it up. You can read the NAACP's full reaction here.
I'll catch up tomorrow on the rest of today's happenings.
Comments? Drop me a line.
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