Thread: Senate Passes Apology for Slavery, Segregation

Senate Passes Apology for Slavery, Segregation

Thursday, June 18, 2009 12:25 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has unanimously passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and racial segregation and sent the measure to the House.

Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin first introduced the measure years ago but wanted it passed Thursday on the eve of Juneteenth - a day of celebration commemorating the end of the Civil War and the release of African Americans from slavery. He said the House is to take it up soon and that a formal celebration will be held next month in the Capitol Rotunda.

The Senate has passed such nonbinding but highly symbolic resolutions before, apologizing for such things as the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

The resolution passed Thursday includes a disclaimer saying that nothing in it supports or authorizes reparations by the United States.

http://www.newsmax.com/us/senate_slaver ... 26646.html

Calif. Lawmaker Seeks Apology for Chinese Ancestors

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 1:40 PM

SACRAMENTO -- California's Chinese immigrants helped build ships, levees, irrigation systems and the transcontinental railroad. They worked in farm fields and mines and helped develop the abalone and shrimp industries.

For their efforts, they were rewarded with special taxes, forced out of towns and denied the right to own property, marry whites and attend public schools. They also were subjected to violence and intimidation and denied equal protection by the courts. In 1882, they were made the targets of the nation's first law limiting immigration, the Chinese Exclusion Act.

State Assemblyman Paul Fong, a Cupertino Democrat whose maternal grandfather was subjected to immigration restrictions, thinks it's time the state and the federal governments formally apologize for mistreatment of the Chinese.

"It was a double standard all the way" until the mid-20th century, Fong said Tuesday. "They couldn't marry who they wanted. They couldn't buy property until the 1950s. Asians couldn't become (naturalized) citizens."

It isn't the first time lawmakers have sought to make amends for past mistreatment. At least six states have offered apologies to blacks for slavery, segregation and other racist policies. Congress also has apologized to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893.

The Chinese started coming to California in large numbers during the Gold Rush, hoping to strike it rich and return home. Many stayed and more came, working in the mines or taking other jobs, including helping build the transcontinental railroad.

Eddie Wong, executive director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, said Chinese immigrants made "tremendous contributions to building society, building the economy of California. That should be recognized along with an apology."

Fong has introduced a resolution in the Assembly that cites the contributions made by the Chinese and expresses California's deep regrets for the discrimination. The measure is scheduled to be considered next week by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, the first step in winning approval from the Legislature.

He has scheduled a news conference Wednesday to publicly announce his efforts.

Fong said he also plans to seek an apology from the federal government and some form of reparation, such as a contribution to maintain the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay. The center housed Chinese immigrants between 1910 and 1940 as they tried to prove they were eligible to enter the U.S.

The island is a state park that could be shut because of California's budget problems.

Fong's maternal grandfather experienced the discrimination firsthand. When he arrived in the United States in 1939, he spent two months on Angel Island undergoing questioning to determine if he was eligible to enter the country, Fong said.

He wasn't eligible, under the immigration restrictions in place at the time. The restrictions allowed Chinese to immigrate if they were members of certain professions, were the children of immigrants in those professions or were the children of Chinese-Americans who were citizens because they were born in the U.S.

Fong's grandfather paid about $2,000 for fake identification papers, took a new name, Chan Share, and became a "paper son," the name given a practice that blossomed after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

The earthquake destroyed many birth records, allowing Chinese to claim they were citizens and sell fake identification papers to their "children" in China who wanted to immigrate. Hence the name "paper son" or "paper daughter."

"There were discriminatory laws on the books at the time, and he had to get around them," Fong said. "That was the way they did it."

His grandfather settled near San Mateo and became a flower grower. He was one of the founders of the Chinese Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association and died in 1959.
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The resolution is ACR42
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On the Net:

California State Assembly,

http://www.newsmax.com/politics/us_chin ... 26224.html

This consistent reminder of a past that no living person was a part of personally keeps people divided and gives people reasons to hate each other!!

The original slums were "shanty towns" aka Irish discrimination/suppression.
I want my share/apology.

Originally Posted by 93camaro

This consistent reminder of a past that no living person was a part of personally keeps people divided and gives people reasons to hate each other!!

I so agree!!!
isn't it time we worked on one common culture (American... this is America) and bring about unity?


diversity (di⋅ver⋅si⋅ty
  /dɪˈvɜrsɪti, daɪ-/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [di-vur-si-tee, dahy-] Show IPA
–noun, plural -ties.
1. the state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness.
2. variety; multiformity.
3. a point of difference.)

And here I always thought the 500,000 Americans who died freeing the slaves was apology enough.

ok, they got thier apology now for something none of us alive today had anything to do with.


.....Can we please move on now???

ok, they got thier apology

Hardly. There are no living slaves to hear this.