My initial response is no. Men and women should be accountable for their own actions not that of their forefathers. Im not trivialising what my ancestors or other black peoples ancestors went through but where does it stop. However as a country places like England and America should apoligise if they are to celebrate the great things they did they should also repent for their horrific deeds. What are you guys thoughts on this black or white
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Wouldn't matter if they did. Slavery still happened (and still does).
sharebut shouldn't the muslims blacks apologize first for selling them tell that moment first???
shareI think black people should apologize for hating and mistreating each other.
I think humanity should apologize to each other.
There's a lot of hatred out there, especially the harder things get economically.
All of the above is my humble opinion, of course.
Apologize? Not only have many politicians apologized countless times, but the USA has collectively apologized in the forms of welfare payments, college admission preferences based on race--despite poor academic performance, medicaid, etc. Also while blacks represent 10% of the workforce in America, they comprise 18% of government employment. All ethnic groups were treated poorly--some worse than others--but no one is apologizing to the Irish or Italians. It's been 150 years since slavery in America, people to get over it and stop looking for excuses.
shareIn 2001, the US government formally apologized to Japanese Americans for what amounted to 3 years of internment. To their credit, at least the US government could say that Japan did in fact bomb Pearl Harbor but to date, no sovereign African nation has ever attacked the USA. Legalized, race-based, institutional slavery lasted almost 250 years. Most contemporary African Americans do not even know the names of the families they ascend from.
There were never any laws formally sanctioning the mistreatment of Italian or Irish immigrants (or their descendants). It can however be argued that well-meaning Irish immigrants did at times take jobs from some African Americans, struggling to “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps”. Your rationalization attempts compare apples to oranges. If you truly believe 50 million African Americans have been properly compensated for over 350 years of mistreatment, then you are entitled to your opinion. However it does not require a Harvard degree to understand why the only group in America to experience “forced immigration” and were legally classified as “livestock” has yet to achieve higher “academic achievement” or full assimilation into the American status quo.
What more could be done for them?
shareAn apology wouldn't do much good. People say reparations, reparations, but honestly what could repair the damage done by slavery? The shackles still exist, figuratively speaking...
God is real. Atheists don't exist
They say confession is good for the soul. They also say that possession is nine tenths of the law. History tends to reward the victor and the victor tends to forget both his sins and the sins of his father. Empires rise upon the backs of the oppressed but to date no empire has been able to withstand the pendulum of time that reconciles the past with the present.
In “Star Trek”, the “Prime Directive” was the guiding principle that says mankind must remember his sins by refusing to conquer space the way he has done on earth.
Yes but only after black africans apologize for selling their country men and women to the white man.
shareShould current German people apologise for the world wars?
Should us British apologise for some of the evil done in the name of the Brtish Empire?
Should your average American citizen apologise for the C.I.A's immoral and paranoid actions all over the world in the name of the US government?
No
There are good white people and bad white people.
There are good black people and bad black people.
There are good asain people and bad asain people.
People should not be held accountable for actions they themselves did not take or give consent to, especially actions taken many generations before.
And anyway, there were a substantial amount of black people working with white people and profiteering within the evil African slave trade.
All types of humans do bad things, just so happens that White Europeans and Americans happened to be richest at the time.
Your point is well made. Especially since you mention blacks selling other blacks into slavery, which many people conveniently forget (or they just don't know).
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had.
It is such a slap-in-the-face to hear anyone blame the few complicit Africans for 300 years of mistreatment at the hands of whites. You should be ashamed of yourself for being so damn shallow. Reality suggests that no apologies will ever be forthcoming but whoever remotely suggests that blacks caused slavery should be the first to apologize. It sickens me that the hell raisers (and sometimes their descendants) are the first to say, "let’s just move on". This fruits of this “caste system” have made life easier for those who inherit the higher echelon of it. When the son learns how his father’s wealth was acquired he will either join the family business or altogether reject it. It’s obvious which path you have chosen.
shareWhen the son learns how his father’s wealth was acquired he will either join the family business or altogether reject it. It’s obvious which path you have chosen.
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An apology would do nothing to rectify the years of slavery, abuse, and oppression that black people have suffered. So no, there's no need to apologize. It's too little too late and it won't turn back time. Besides, none of us have any control over what our ancestors did.
By all means, countries should acknowledge human rights abuses as a regrettable part of their history, but I see no reason for countries to apologize either. I don't believe in collective guilt. The only way to redeem ourselves for the past is to do better in the future.
"Admiration is for poets and dairy cows, Bobby."
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