Sanders: 'We have got to apologize for slavery'

[arcane1]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday said the nation owes an apology for slavery.

“As a nation — I don’t think as a president, but as a nation — we have got to apologize for slavery,” the 2016 Democratic presidential contender told host Joe Madison on Sirius XM’s “The Black Eagle.”

“As a nation we have got to apologize for slavery, and of course the president is the leader of the nation,” he added.

Sanders said that slavery had caused too much suffering to remain unaddressed.

-snip-


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/247257-sanders-we-have-got-to-apologize-for-slavery

[RobertEarl]

1. Hell yeah.

As a nation we should be ashamed. An apology is just the beginning of asking for forgiveness.

Thank you, Bernie.

[randys1]

2. Apologize and reimburse.

[xocet]

16. No doubt.

And while that is being done, for a start, all the Confederate memorials need to be melted down or pulverized so that memorials to each of the victims of lynching may be built at all the locations of the lynchings; c.f., (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/us/history-of-lynchings-in-the-south-documents-nearly-4000-names.html?_r=0).

[AgingAmerican]

72. Yes

The Southern states should shoulder most of that reimbursement too.

[hack89]

120. No. I live in a northern state that enriched itself through slavery

Rhode Island and the port of Newport were instrumental in the slave trade. Many old money RI families got started in the slave business - the Brown family that started Brown university were slavers.

[AgingAmerican]

122. Well then RI should pay too

nt

[hack89]

125. And Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.

where do you think the banks that financed the slave trade were located?

[AgingAmerican]

127. Them too

nt

[Nye Bevan]

94. Documented descendents of slaveholders would be forced to pay into a fund

that would make payments to documented descendents of slaves?

Is this what you have in mind?

[heaven05]

116. How about all the

modern business interests and their multi billionaire descendants who profited from the labor of slaves, doing something like that? Something like how I.G.Farben profited from Jewish slave labor during WWII. How about slave trader families that made huge sums of money in trafficking human tragedy and misery here in america starting to pay? You mean something like that?

[Nye Bevan]

118. So companies such as Koch Industries (started in 1940) and Apple (started in 1976)

would not be required to pay anything?

[heaven05]

121. If those company's mentioned by you or any family

member(s) of the 1%, 10% or 20% belonging to or associated with those company's mentioned by you can be linked to the slave trade or having been a recipient of profits from businesses that gained money from american 'Slave ERA', yes. Nice try. Sounds like a benign question.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. Yes

Other countries have done so.

[JaneyVee]

4. True true.

[-none]

5. And then when we are done with that,

about all the Native people that were here before Plymouth Rock? And their descendents. Don't they deserve an apology also?
And when we are done with that we can start on our wars of conquest, here, there and everywhere. Those wars are still continuing in the Middle East as you read this. All this apology thing could take a while.

[azmom]

7. It will take as long as it will take. No more, no less.

[ibegurpard]

9. yup

[madokie]

10. Exactly

[Vattel]

33. well-said

[sabrina 1]

52. Yes, all of it. And then we need to come home and start rebuilding this nation

as a civilized society, stop killing for profit, stop creating enemies, start using the enormous resources we have to do good in this world, that would be the best way to apologize for all the wrongs that have been done in our name.

Let's begin by prosecuting war criminals wrt to our foreign crimes.

[jwirr]

6. That has been a long time in coming. Should have been done years ago.

[azmom]

8. +1

[pa28]

11. I'd like to hear Hillary Clinton's answer to this question as well. Should we apologize for slavery?

Can she answer that with a simple yes or no? It seems Bernie has.

[ibegurpard]

13. I doubt she would disagree

[George II]

30. WHY even bring this up?

[sabrina 1]

53. You don't agree that this country owes an apology for slavery? It's not the first time it's been

brought up, so what is your objection to bringing it up again? And again, if necessary?

[George II]

55. Did I say that????? Here you go taking a comment I make and turning it around to the childish.....

...."you don't agree with (fill in the blank here)?"

OF COURSE I AGREE, and I have NO OBJECTION to it happening, did I ever say that I didn't????? But apparently unlike Bernie Sanders, I know that it already happened - the fact is that in 2008 and 2009 (6 or 7 years ago) each of the two houses of Congress passed resolutions apologizing for slavery. Did you know that??? Did he forget that?

The Senate passed their resolution unanimously, why doesn't Sanders remember doing so and why is he raising this as though it never happened?

In fact, even in his statement here he says the President shouldn't apologize! So, if both houses have already done so and he doesn't think the President should, what's his point?

This is a discussion about SANDERS' comments about an apology (which has already been made), and the immediate, NEGATIVE reaction is "what does Hillary say about this?"

Why do you folks have to insist on turning everything Sanders says into a negative attack on Hillary Clinton?????? It's getting boring and tedious.

[zappaman]

70. Nailed it.

[NCTraveler]

87. That is how you destroy a fallacious reply based on flawed assumptions.

Well done.

[virtualobserver]

106. A resolution in Congress that most people don't even know about.....

is not an apology from the nation.

Bernie doesn't do symbolic gestures, he is talking about us as a nation,as a people.

Riding around in your truck with a Confederate flag is the opposite of that.

Iowa was a union state, yet people were flying a Confederate flag in a 4th of July parade.

Republicans responding to pressure is not an apology.

[heaven05]

114. applicable to her

what's the problem?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

76. Hillary's answer . . . <crickets> . . .<waiting on poll data>...<more crickets>...

[George II]

81. Why is there a need for "Hillary's answer"? Is that the subject of this discussion?

How about this - why is Sanders bringing this up NOW since both houses passed resolutions of apology years ago (and presumably he voted for it because it passed the Senate unanimously)?

This is a political ploy to create a controversy over something that has happened already. Maybe he did it to give his minions yet another opportunity to descend on Clinton supporters to demand an answer from her?

[jeff47]

101. Well, Clinton's campaign is claiming they are more "in tune" with People of Color.

So why would she not want to talk about it? Isn't that supposed to be one of the big problems with Sanders, that he only cares about white people? Clinton talking about this would be a fantastic way to emphasize that contrast.

[George II]

103. Never saw that billed as a problem with Sanders, but since he already voted for an apology....

....maybe he's not "in touch"?

[jeff47]

105. Maybe one not-actually-a-bill doesn't complete the job.

But you're making a lot of posts asking why Clinton has to respond. Why wouldn't she want to respond?

[nc4bo]

84. Oh she'll come up with something....

She's so damned good at it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/08/clinton-obama-not-winning_n_100763.html

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

{Geoff Garin (born 1953) is an American pollster, who briefly served as co-chief strategist for Senator Hillary Clinton's 2008 Presidential campaign}

And Garin brags, specifically and explicitly, about her strength with the white vote, comparing North Carolina's white voters in North Carolina to those in Virginia. (The conversations have always been about these voters, but they're usually referred to as "blue collar" or by some less specifically racial euphemism.)
"We lost the white electorate in Virginia, started even in North Carolina among the white electorate just two weeks ago, and ended [with] a very significant win of 24 points among those voters," he said, acknowledging that among black voters, Clinton "did not do as well as we would want or need."

The Clinton campaign conference starts on a deliberately high note: Howard Wolfson notes, cheerily, that it's a beautiful day in Arlington.

Geoff Garin talks about Indiana, "a close outcome, but an outcome about which we feel very, very good."

[ibegurpard]

12. damn right we do

And acknowledge and to dismantle the institutionalized racism that is its legacy and exists to this day.

[restorefreedom]

14. hard to believe it hasn't happened yet.

jeez wtf is up with that

[arcane1]

15. It's been over 20 years since we apologized for internment. I guess we're working backwards...

at a rate of one year per year

[ibegurpard]

17. hey people are still arguing about confederate flags

That ought to tell you how little progress has been made on this front. And that's even after a white supremacist massacred black churchgoers.

[xocet]

19. Does anyone have a comprehensive list of the parties to whom the US needs to apologize?

To the native Hawaiians:

107 STAT. 1510-------------PUBLIC LAW 103-150—NOV. 23, 1993

Public Law 103-150
103d Congress

Joint Resolution

To acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the January 17, 1893, overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and to offer an apology to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Whereas, prior to the arrival of the first Europeans in 1778, the
Native Hawaiian people lived in a highly organized, self-sufficient,
subsistent social system based on communal land tenure with
a sophisticated language, culture, and religion;
Whereas a unified monarchical government of the Hawaiian Islands
was established in 1810 under Kamehameha I, the first King
of Hawaii;
Whereas, from 1826 until 1893, the United States recognized the
independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii, extended full and complete
diplomatic recognition to the Hawaiian Government, and
entered into treaties and conventions with the Hawaiian monarchs
to govern commerce and navigation in 1826, 1842, 1849,
1875, and 1887;
Whereas the Congregational Church (now known as the United
Church of Christ), through its American Board of Commissioners
for Foreign Missions, sponsored and sent more than 100 missionaries
to the Kingdom of Hawaii between 1820 and 1850;
Whereas, on January 14, 1893, John L. Stevens (hereafter referred
to in this Resolution as the "United States Minister&quot , the United
States Minister assigned to the sovereign and independent Kingdom
of Hawaii conspired with a small group of non-Hawaiian
residents of the Kingdom of Hawaii, including citizens of the
United States, to overthrow the indigenous and lawful Government
of Hawaii;
Whereas, in pursuance of the conspiracy to overthrow the Government
of Hawaii, the United States Minister and the naval representatives
of the United States caused armed naval forces of
the United States to invade the sovereign Hawaiian nation on
January 16, 1893, and to position themselves near the Hawaiian
Government buildings and the Iolani Palace to intimidate Queen
Liliuokalani and her Government;
Whereas, on the afternoon of January 17, 1893, a Committee of
Safety that represented the American and European sugar planters,
descendents of missionaries, and financiers deposed the
Hawaiian monarchy and proclaimed the establishment of a Provisional
Government;

...

SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND APOLOGY.

The Congress—
(1) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the illegal
overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893,
acknowledges the historical significance of this event which
resulted in the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the
Native Hawaiian people;
(2) recognizes and commends efforts of reconciliation initiated
by the State of Hawaii and the United Church of Christ
with Native Hawaiians;
(3) apologizes to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people
of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of
Hawaii on January 17, 1893 with the participation of agents
and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the
rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination;
(4) expresses its commitment to acknowledge the ramifications
of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, in order
to provide a proper foundation for reconciliation between the
United States and the Native Hawaiian people; and
(5) urges the President of the United States to also acknowledge
the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of
Hawaii and to support reconciliation efforts between the United
States and the Native Hawaiian people.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-107/pdf/STATUTE-107-Pg1510.pdf

To the US Citizens of Japanese ancestry who were interred:

Day of Apology and 'Sigh of Relief'
By KATHERINE BISHOP, Special to the New York Times
Published: August 11, 1988

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10— President Reagan's signing of legislation that provides for payments and apologies to Japanese-Americans who were forcibly relocated in World War II brings to an end the ''civil rights disaster'' of internment, leaders of organizations who worked for the measure said here today.

They said Japanese-Americans reacted with ''a collective sigh of relief'' in receiving an official apology for what they felt to be 46 years of shame and pain because they had collectively been accused of disloyalty to the United States.

At a news conference held at the national headquarters of the Japanese American Citizens League, Ben Takeshita, a spokesman for the organization, urged rapid passage of the Congressional appropriation measure that would begin payment of $20,000 each to approximately 60,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry who were interned and are still living. #120,000 Ordered Detained About 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were ordered detained in Government camps by President Roosevelt in 1942 after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Mr. Takeshita said that while the money ''could not begin to compensate a person for his or her lost freedom, property, livelihood or for the stigma of disloyalty,'' it showed that the Government's apology was ''sincere.''

...

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/11/us/day-of-apology-and-sigh-of-relief.html

[LuvLoogie]

48. It sort of has

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/18/senate.slavery/index.html?eref=ib_us

[Agschmid]

74. It "has"*

*check the Google.

[George II]

83. The House of Representatives AND the Senate* have already done so, years ago

*Presumably Senator Sanders voted for the Senate resolution since it passed the Senate unanimously.

Hard to believe he can't remember doing so - "jeez wtf is up with that?"

[restorefreedom]

111. since prominent people were calling for it

i reasonably assumed it hadn't been done.

glad to see it has.

[bravenak]

18. Finally!!

[LuvLoogie]

20. So does Bernie mean all 300 million plus of us?

Or just the President should apologize? (Should Barack Obama apologize for Slavery?)

Shouldn't Bernie say, "I am sorry for slavery." A real leader wouldn't wait until Hillary is elected president to apologize on his behalf. So what does he mean?

I know he's not pandering. I mean it's Bernie Sanders.

[arcane1]

21. It's quite clear in his comments. What's tripping you up?

As president, he would apologize on behalf of the nation.

[Ed Suspicious]

28. Want of a smear. I think it might have been a sliming from the Luvloogie.

[LuvLoogie]

34. So we should wait until, say, January/February of 2017?

Should President Obama apologize on behalf of the nation--this week?

[arcane1]

35. I know it can be difficult to come up with new smears all the time, with so little to work with

But this attempt is fucking stupid.

[Autumn]

110. Bernie said, "As a nation — I don’t think as a president, but as a nation"

We are the nation'. That is so fantastic, I think it starts like this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026955173

[cui bono]

38. Yeah, starting with you.

Ready... set... GO!

[LuvLoogie]

66. Okay. I apologize for being a citizen of the United States of America

which has committed a lot of shit, evil, and underhanded mayhem throughout its history. I apologize for my immigrant family having come to this nation to take advantage of its ill-gotten prosperity. I apologize for continuing to daily buy into a premise that still harbors the ghosts, relics and spawn of evil. A country which has never addressed its racist roots in slavery, genocide resource robbery and depletion, and that has so cavalierly incinerated all that oppose it.

[heaven05]

126. Don't "apologize"!!!!

Your family or you, unless it-you can be tied to the slave trade(er)-traffickers or have somehow gained profit(s) from the labor of slaves during the american Slave ERA, owe no one any apology. Just work to end the hate that ERA generated and has continued generating all the way to this very day. Have a good one.

[heaven05]

89. nice try

so obvious, your response, it is.

[99Forever]

22. Unquestionably.

And not the only people that we should apologize to, but a very good place to start.

[BrotherIvan]

23. But but but...

BAM! Hell yes, HE WENT THERE.

[BrotherIvan]

24. More of the quote

“As a nation we have got to apologize for slavery, and of course the president is the leader of the nation,” he added.

Sanders said that slavery had caused too much suffering to remain unaddressed.
“Obviously nobody in this generation was involved in slavery,” Sanders said.

“But as a nation, slavery is one of the abominations that our country has experienced," he continued. "There is no excuse — what can we say about it?”

“It was horrific,” he added. “It killed millions of people who never made it even across the ocean. It destroyed the lives of so many people.”

I just read an article about Texas taking mention of slavery and Jim Crow out of the textbooks. And here we have a national candidate who wants it out in the open with an apology.

[heaven05]

25. Well!!!

precise, unambiguous and without equivocation about the source of much racial grief in this country. That is a definite step in the right direction toward healing our divided american populace. Excellent. Haven't head that from a candidate before I don't think.

[LWolf]

39. +1

[Number23]

45. I agree, heaven. This is great

In Australia, Kevin Rudd, the former Prime Minister apologized for the Stolen Generation who were a group of indigenous Australian CHILDREN who were taken from their homes and put into homes with white families in order to "mainstream" them. http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-people/apology-to-australias-indigenous-peoples

The devastation this policy had on Aboriginal communities is immeasurable. The apology didn't solve everything. But it went a long way towards HEALING which is so important.

An apology for slavery won't fix everything. Hell, it probably won't fix anything but it's a step. Glad that Sanders said this. Hope it won't have too much of a negative effect on his candidacy.

[arcane1]

59. That policy existed in some places here too, for our own indigenous people.

[marym625]

113. +1000

[Culver Shuttle]

26. Beg pardon. Why can't we take credit for abolishing slavery?

What's with all the blood feud mentality mongering lately?

[Bjorn Against]

36. The same reason a criminal can't take credit when he stops committing crimes

Our nation allowed great crimes against humanity to occur, if we can't even apologize then we certainly don't deserve to take credit for stopping the enslavement of people.

[Jefferson23]

42. +1. n/t

[LuvLoogie]

67. So then how does one apologize for the nation?

Who does the apologizing? When?

Did the Votes for the 13th Ammendment involve no acts of contrition by Members of Congress? Did the ratification by the states involve no moving of human conscience?

Did the Resolutions Apologizing for Slavery (House 2008; Senate 2009) count for nothing? Does the President of the United States have to make the apology for it to mean anything? If so, which President?

All of them? Jimmy, George, Bill, George, and Barack? Or just Barack? Or will it only mean anything if Bernie apologizes in 2017?

[heaven05]

90. you really

should try to find a clue, if possible for you.

[Culver Shuttle]

91. So *I* am a criminal because of crimes committed by a few rich men before I was born?

Because I am the same color?

When many more fought against them?

Blood feud mentality.

[Bjorn Against]

119. Where did I say anything about you?

Last I knew you were not the sole representative of America.

This is not about you it is about our nation.

[arcane1]

46. We do, all the time

Maybe you missed it

[historylovr]

27. Damn right we do.

[WillyT]

29. Huge K & R !!!

[valerief]

31. According the new school textbooks, slavery didn't even exist! nt

[cui bono]

40. That is so sick that that is happening.

Cleansing our history like that.

[valerief]

41. That's what fascists do.

[George II]

32. Where was Senator Sanders on June 18, 2009 when the Senate unanimously approved...

...a resolution apologizing for slavery. The House did the same thing in July 2008.

[nc4bo]

37. We need to hear it again and again. Our ancestors earned at least that

as do any other group treated wrongly.

[George II]

57. True, but Sanders is acting like it hasn't even happened once.

[Number23]

47. That's a great point

And Clinton did express "deep regret" about slavery in 1998. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=004_1245439881

[sheshe2]

60. They are listening now that Bernie speaks on Wednesday?

Where were they a year ago? Where was Bernie?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024985868#top

The Case for Reparations
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
MAY 21, 2014

[Number23]

69. After reading George II's posts in this thread, I'm confused now

I knew that Clinton had expressed "deep regret" about slavery in 1998 but George has just reminded everyone that the House and Senate also passed resolutions apologizing for slavery.

House in 2008 - http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/29/house.slavery/
Senate in 2009 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/18/AR2009061803877.html

So who does he want to apologize? What other embodiments of "the nation" are there beyond the president and Congress?

[sheshe2]

130. 2008 2009

The House and Senate apologized for slavery. It is so far past time, yet I am glad they finally did it.

So who does he want to apologize? What other embodiments of "the nation" are there beyond the president and Congress?

Wait, that is a hard question, give me a minute. Could it be the slaves, their descendents? Peoples today?

*************

As a nation — I don’t think as a president, but as a nation — we have got to apologize for slavery,” the 2016 Democratic presidential contender told host Joe Madison on Sirius XM’s “The Black Eagle.”

“As a nation we have got to apologize for slavery, and of course the president is the leader of the nation,” he added.

Sanders said that slavery had caused too much suffering to remain unaddressed.

“Obviously nobody in this generation was involved in slavery,” Sanders said.

“But as a nation, slavery is one of the abominations that our country has experienced," he continued. "There is no excuse — what can we say about it?”

“It was horrific,” he added. “It killed millions of people who never made it even across the ocean. It destroyed the lives of so many people.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/247257-sanders-we-have-got-to-apologize-for-slavery

It didn't just kill people, it enslaved them. It made them targets of of continued racist hate.

I am sorry.

[cui bono]

71. Who is "they"? n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

54. difference

http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/06/why_won_t_the_united_states_apologize_for_slavery.html

The House of Representatives had passed a similar measure the previous year. But Congress could not resolve the two apologies because of differing views on how the resolution would be used in any discussion of reparations. The Senate version was insistent that an apology would not endorse any future claims. The House could not agree

[George II]

56. Wasn't Sanders in the Senate when that vote took place? Doesn't he remember that?

[morningfog]

62. What does that have to do with the President apologizing as "the nation."

Of course he remembers.

[LuvLoogie]

68. So then he IS calling on President Barack Obama

to apologize for Slavery for the nation? Or should we wait for January 2017 for a genuine apology, because our representatives in congress passing resolutions really doesn't mean anything? Nation speaking, that is.

[morningfog]

77. Did you even read the OP?

He is clearly saying the was of the nation, as the nation, needs to apologize. He's not calling on Obama to do it, but saying it should happen and he, Pres. Sanders, would do so.

This is not complicated.

[morningfog]

61. Uh, he was part of that unanimous vote.

Nice try.

[George II]

64. I know....but why has he come out today with his comments as though that resolution never passed?

[morningfog]

65. He wasn't talking about the Senate.

Was he?

[Jefferson23]

43. Yes, at the very least..reparations next. K&R

[morningfog]

63. Absolutely. That is the logical and necessary next step.

[Ken Burch]

44. Not only that-but apologies and reparations for Jim Crow AND redlining n/t.

[Omaha Steve]

49. K&R!

[elias7]

50. Interestingly, as a Jew, Sanders' family likely arrived post abolition.

And I doubt any of his ancestors were slaveowners; on the contrary, it is quite possible some of his ancestors were enslaved at some point in history.

Still, laying it right out there, in typical Bernie Sanders fashion.

[libdem4life]

51. Indeed the US has many apologies to make...getting to Empire is not a pretty sight...

or reality for many.

http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html

FROM WOUNDED KNEE TO SYRIA:

A CENTURY OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTIONS

by Dr. Zoltan Grossman

The following is a partial list of U.S. military interventions from 1890 to 2014.

(Around 120 "interventions&quot

[MannyGoldstein]

58. LOL! Bernie finally discovered PoC!

Where was he during the Civil Rights Movement? He was old enough then that he COULD have participated if he ACTUALLY cared.

Wait... what? Seriously?

Regards,

TWM

[merrily]

73. Slavery, Jim Crow and vote deprivation, but, of course, slavery.

Jim Crow lasted over a century after the Emancipation Proclamation. The vote crap continues, but, at least it's illegal in theory, so there's that, if it matters.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

75. Once again, Bernie telling it like it is. Gotta love it! Go Bernie!

[Sunlei]

78. Its what happened after slaves were supposed to be 'free' our country has never faced

[nc4bo]

79. It's getting harder and harder to kick start memories when there is

An effort to diminish or erase the history of slavery and the effects it has had on AAs. The very buildings many walk past exist because of slavery or unique inventions created by a black hand. I suspect it's the same for NAs or any other group of minorities that cant be completely assimilated into the dominate society because they wear their differences and are judged by those differences.

How's that saying go about history is doomed to repeating itself? Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

You've got to admit America is a poster child for that statement......I'm specifically thinking of a political party that coddles and panders to its racists rather than chastising and jettisoning.

[Enthusiast]

80. Kicked and recommended to the Max!

[Evergreen Emerald]

82. This feels disingenuous

It feels like a political move to counter the criticism he has been receiving.

[Skinner]

85. If it is political, it's genius.

Sanders has nothing to lose from saying it, but Hillary has to think about how it would play in the general election. I have little doubt that both Hillary and Bernie believe that the United States should apologize for slavery, but obviously it is a highly controversial issue. I suspect Hillary Clinton would prefer to avoid it, as the general election politics are tricky.

This is a fairly ingenious way for Bernie Sanders to appeal to African American voters, who overwhelmingly support Hillary.

[marym625]

108. see, that's a great reply.

I don't believe the "overwhelming support" Hillary. Not what I see and hear outside of here. Not what I even see here. Certainly not overwhelming.

But, I appreciate seeing you comment.

I don't think it's anything but a genuine position. And I agree that every candidate in the Democratic primary feels the same way.

Now, we just need action to end the current harm being done. Ending privatization of prisons, unequal sentencing and length of sentences would be a great start.

[ibegurpard]

112. amen!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

128. I don't trust either one on this issue, and certainly not Hillary Clinton, given her 2008 campaign.

[Evergreen Emerald]

129. Well, politics is like a chess match

I am surprised America has not already apologized.

[ibegurpard]

86. do you disagree?

[arcane1]

92. I haven't listened to the interview yet, so I'm not sure if he was asked or if he brought it up n/t

[NCTraveler]

88. I will take my apology in emergency relief to inner city schools.

Progressive taxation. Stronger gun laws. Body cams on every cop. More robust and compassionate welfare programs. Decriminalization of mj. etc.

[Nye Bevan]

93. How many bills has he introduced in the Senate mandating such an apology? (nt)

[ibegurpard]

95. So I guess you disagree...

[Nye Bevan]

96. No, just wondering whether this is something that only just occurred to him,

or if it is something that he has been taking a strong stand on for a long time.

[ibegurpard]

97. Bernie Sanders

http://time.com/3896500/bernie-sanders-vermont-campaign-radical/

[Nye Bevan]

98. Nothing about apologizing for slavery in that article.

I guess that answers my question. Thanks!

[ibegurpard]

100. ah of course

A disingenuous question. A lifetime of racial equality activism discounted.

[Autumn]

102. Must Sanders be the one to introduce it or can he just vote for one?

A bill passed the Senate Unanimously in 2009 so he obviously voted for it. But here Bernie is saying as a nation we have got to apologize for slavery. Not a president, but as a nation we must apologize. What he said may be a bit too nuanced for some but the point he made is honest and just.

[arcane1]

115. It's too nuanced for people to twist into a smear

But apparently they will try anyway.

[Autumn]

117. Well E for effort huh?

What Bernie said there was so powerful, it's about us. Just like his campaign is about us.

[Autumn]

99. I love that. "as a nation — we have got to apologize for slavery,”

Bravo Bernie Bravo.

[ibegurpard]

104. we need to do more than apologize for slavery

We need to acknowledge its ugly legacy that persists to this day. We need to ask why so much effort is put into finding reasons to justify police brutality against people of color. We need to ask why the narrative of victim-blaming for social ills is disproportionately applied to Black America.

[Autumn]

107. Yes we do, and an apology as a nation is a damn good place to start. n/t

[marym625]

109. K&R

Great article. Great post!

[ismnotwasm]

123. Good for him

Next stop, opening discussion on reparations. And an apology from every white person who continues to deny white privledge.

[raouldukelives]

124. Kickin this. Far past time.