The Feminist Refrain
columnist: Emma Goldman

Topic: Education
The Good and the Bad of Mr. Steve Cohen's 'apology for slavery' via House Resolution 194

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A.P. reporter Jim Abram's article of a day ago reveals some important (and encouraging) political developments. But Congressman Cohen's "apology for slavery" wasn't one of them.

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by Emma Goldman
(libertarian)
Thursday, July 31, 2008

When I heard of this, I was disgusted.  I thought to myself, "What conniving politician is grandstanding now?"

I found out that House Resolution 194 (e.g. U.S. Congressional resolution) was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen.

So I considered the following from a piece by the Associated Press:

"[Congressman] Cohen became the first white to represent the 60 percent black district in Memphis in more than three decades when he captured a 2006 primary where a dozen black candidates split the vote.

"The Cohen resolution does not mention reparations. It does commit the House to rectifying "the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow."

"[the Resolution] says that Africans forced into slavery "were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage" and that black Americans today continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow laws that fostered discrimination and segregation.

Then I recalled some facts (yes, those beautiful, stubborn, pieces of reality):

Fact #1: People have enslaved other people throughout the world, for nearly all of mankind's history.  (140 out of 2400, for western civilization).

Fact #2: It was the idea's that led to the American Revolution that MADE POSSIBLE, for the first time in history, a country based on the MORAL LAW OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.  That was the founding principle that inexorably had to lead to the abolition of slavery.

Fact #3: The Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and most importantly, the American Revolution led directly to the world-wide abolition of slavery.

I ask you, my Dear Reader, to consider the following in evidence:

(My notes from the chapter on Slavery in "The Capitalist Manifesto")

Leading men of the American Revolution - who were all students of the Enlightenment - from Benjamin Franklin, to Thomas Paine, to John Adams, to Alexander Hamilton challenged the primitive practices of slave trading and holding.

Even influential founders from Virginia favored emancipation.  George Washington swore to never "purchase another slave" and made it clear that he favored abolition "by slow, sure, and imperceptible degrees."

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote a denunciation of the slave trade that was edited out by Congress.  In 1784, he brought a bill before Congress, seeking to prohibit slavery in all the western territories, but it was defeated by a single vote.

In his book, Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson worked out a plan "whereby all slaves born after 1800 would eventually become free."

Then I ask you to consider the premises of the men who profited greatly from their slavery institutions in the (North and) South, during the 1800s.  Those men who justified to themselves why they "had" to keep the "negro race" down, were doing so based on one of four principal reasons:

a) The more learned men, who had studied Aristotle, justified it based on saying that the negro was 'naturally uncivilized and violent', and could never be tamed by moral laws.

b) The less learned men, who had profitable businesses and plantations that used slave labor, were fearful of losing their economic fortunes.

c) The brute religious fanatics, who were known as 'fire breathers' preaching 'hellfire and brimstone', were truly racists.

d) The profiteers on ignorance, who developed 'black church theology', to indoctrinate and pacify plantation slaves into accepting their station in life.  Consider an extract from the published Sermons of Bishop Meade, an Episcopal clergyman in Virginia: "You are to be obedient and subject to your masters in all things.  ... When correction is given you, whether you deserve it or not, it is your duty, and God Almighty requires, that you bear it patiently."

These points I learned from a most excellent historical book, by C. Bradley Thompson.  See references, below.

My Conclusion

I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Bernstein's conclusion, when he writes that the "18th century principles embodied in America's founding doomed slavery in the U.S., even though a mere century earlier human bondage was an institution that had been universally practiced and unquestioned for millennia."

I think all rational individuals can judge the American' Revolution's consequences for themselves.  And I'll be damned if this American 'mutt' - this proud American girl of native ancestry, will apologize to anyone living today for the sins of idiocy past.

And for that matter, I'll be damned before I apologize to 'Indians' either.  But I don't have to make a case against doing that.  Mr. Thomas A. Bowden has provided some great reasons why we should all not apologize for the Indian wars of the 19th century, as well as why we should celebrate Columbus Day without Guilt.

SO WHAT'S THE GOOD NEWS OF THE STORY?

I think it's signficant, actually.  A white candidate won in a majority-black district for U.S. Congress.  I think it speaks well for the future, when people vote on issues, rather than on the color of someone's skin.

Here that, Obama voters?  Consider your reasons, my Dear Voters.

REF: "Antislavery Political Writings, 1833-1860", from C. Bradley Thompson.

REF: "House formally apologizes for slavery and Jim Crow" By JIM ABRAMS

REF: "The Capitalist Manifesto" by Andrew Bernstein

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©2008 Emma Goldman, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Thursday, July 31, 2008
Last modified: Thursday, July 31, 2008

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