From the Cracker Squire Archives -- Some sage advice from the Dean: Georgia legislators moving toward deepening the racial divide.

According to the AJC in an article entitled "Lawmaker will resurrect slavery apology":

Despite several failed attempts to get Georgia to apologize for slavery, State Rep. Al Williams says he is reviving the resolution this session because it is still a cause worth fighting for.

Six other states, mostly in the South, already have passed resolutions apologizing or expressing regret for slavery: Florida, Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia. The U.S. House voted in 2008 to apologize for slavery, and President Barack Obama has said such an apology was appropriate but not particularly helpful in improving the lives of black Americans.

I am a big fan of Rep. Williams. I wrote the following about him in a 1-18-05 post partially entitled "A shot heard (or that should have been heard) round the State":

Rep. Williams of Liberty County reminded us that currently we are in a war for the soul of the Democratic Party. We have the problem and face the challenge of bringing back within the fold white males.

While acknowledging that historically being the big tent party makes it tough to hold our various constituencies together, it is something we must be vigilant about and do.

And we must quit allowing it to be said that our party has a problem with God, morality and ethics. Since when, he asked, was our party not a party about God, morality and ethics.

He said it was hogwash and a crime to let the Republicans get away with claiming to own God, to own values.

Just because our party is for choice does not mean that we have no morals.

And to hear otherwise from national party members perceived to be elitists and claiming to speak for the party does nothing to help. As he put it, "The average voter in Hahira [a small, rural community in Lowndes County] could care less" about such elitist talk.

But on the topic of this post -- whether Georgia should pass a resolution apologizing or expressing regret for slavery -- I am with the now retired Dean of Georgia Journalism and Politics, Bill Shipp, as set forth in a 3-18-07 post entitled "Some sage advice from the Dean: Georgia legislators moving toward deepening the racial divide":

[T]he slavery issue is . . . troubling. It is a replay of the change-the-flag controversy of a few years back. For blacks, the outcome of the apology issue could be as calamitous as the flag-changing campaigns. The Democratic black leadership in the General Assembly must have lost their institutional memory.

Then-Gov. Zell Miller in 1993 stirred up a firestorm of controversy when he tried briefly to remove the Confederate battle symbol from the state flag. The fuss nearly cost him re-election to a second term.

Then along came former Gov. Roy Barnes with an active agenda for reforming schools, improving transportation and enhancing the economy. Black leaders wanted more. They demanded that the Confederate cross be dropped from the Georgia flag. They threatened boycotts and promised to make a national issue of their cause. The white business community panicked and insisted that Barnes move quickly on the flag issue. He did. The flag was changed, and the black-white racial divide returned in the Gold Dome.

Barnes' political career collapsed. A biracial coalition of Democrats that had ruled Georgia for 40 years disappeared overnight. The GOP became Georgia's white majority party. Black lawmakers lost nearly all political influence. Legislative and congressional districts were redrawn to maximize white Republican voting strength and squeeze out Democrats of all colors. However, black activists, led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, proclaimed proudly that they had prevailed in the flag fight. Georgia's new state flag includes no Confederate cross, though it is a virtual replica of the official Confederate national flag.

Now in 2007, the slavery apology debate is traveling a parallel course. If a floor debate occurs, Georgia will be back in the national headlines, and our races will be further divided. Blacks might even get an apology for slavery, but, in the end, they will be further than ever away from acquiring the power and influence needed to confront their constituents' real problems.