June 28, 2000
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A s a lu te to t h e c o m m is s io n f o r
Congress should
apologize for slavery
bn
ra c ia l ju s tic e
by
E arl O eari H ltchinson
h > r T he
B ernice P owell J ackson
P ortland O bserver
When Ohio Congressman Tony Hall introduced his resolution in 1997 asking
Congress to officially apologize for slavery, he was blasted from pillar to post.
Irate whites called the resolution wasteful and racist. Many blacks ridiculed
it as much too little and much too late. Hall won’t give up. H e’ll again try to
get Congress to apologize for slavery as well as to set up a commission, fund
education programs to study slavery’s effects, and establish a national
slavery museum. Almost certainly he’ll be hammered again with the same
arguments that it’s unfair to blame whites and other non-whites for
slavery and that blacks have had a century and a half to shake off the horrors
o f slavery. These are wrong-headed and fallacious arguments.
The U.S. government, business, and the white majority, not just a handful o f
Southern planters, profited and benefited from slavery. The U.S. government
encoded slavery in the Constitution, and protected and nourished it for a
century. Traders, insurance companies, bankers, shippers, and landowners,
madebillionsoffofit.Theirill-gottenprofits fueled America’s industrial might.
Meanwhile, white labor groups for decades after slavery insured that blacks
were excluded from unions and the trades and confined to the dirtiest, poorest
paying jobs.
W hile many whites and non-white immigrants did come to America after the
Civil W ar they were not subjected to the decades o f relentless racial terror and
legal segregation as were blacks. Through the decades of slavery and Jim Crow
segregation, African-Americans were transformed into the poster group for
racial dysfunctionality. The image ofblacks as lazy, crime and violence prone,
irresponsible, and sexual predators has stoked white fears and hostility and
has served as the standard rationale for lynchings, racial assaults, hate crimes
and police violence.
The fact that some blacks earn more and live better than ever today, and have
gotten boosts from welfare, social and education programs, civil rights
legislation, and affirmative action programs, does not mean that America has
shaken the hideous legacy o f slavery. Recent polls by the National Conference
forCommunity and Justice, a Washington D.C. public policy group, found that
blacks are still overwhelmingly the victims o f racial discrimination, and the
Leadership Council on Civil Rights found that young blacks are far likelier than
whites to be imprisoned forsimilarcrimes. Blacks continue to have the highest
or near highest rates o f poverty, infant mortality, victims ofviolence, and HIV/
AID affliction then any other group in America. They are more likely to live in
segregated neighborhoods, be refused business loans, and attend decrepit,
failed public schools than non-whites. The beating o f black motorist Rodney
King, the shooting o f Amadou Diallo, the torture o f Abner Louima, and the
racial profiling o f young black males by the police are ample proof that blacks
are still at mortal risk from police violence. Blame this on the legacy o f slavery.
Also, there is nothing new about state and federal governments issuing
apologies and payments for past wrongs committed against African-Americans.
The U.S. government admitted it was legally liable in 1997 to pay the black
survivors and family members o f the two decade long syphilis experiment
begun in the 1930’s by the U.S. Public Health Service that aimed black patients
into human guinea pigs got $ 10 million from the government and an apology
from Clinton. They were the victims o f a blatant medical atrocity conducted
with the full knowledge and approval o f the U.S. government.
The brutal truth is that the hinge o f A merica’s continuing racial divide is its
brutal mistreatment o f blacks. This can be directly traced to the monstrous
legacy o f slavery. That’s why Hall is legally and morally right to demand that
Congress apologize for that mistreatment. And Congress should do the right
thing and issue that apology.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the wAhoxoiTheDisappearanceofBlackLeadership.
email: ehutchi344@aol.com.
I don’t think I’ve ever quoted the Bible in this column
before, but there are some words, thousands o f years
old, which perfectly describe this moment in life ofthe
United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice.
It comes from the book o f Ecclesiastes and it says that
“For everything there is a season and a time for every
matter under heaven: a time to be bom and a time to
die....
For 37 years the Commission for Racial Justice served
as the national civil rights agency o f the United
Church o f Christ. For 37 years it has stood with those
on the margins ofour society, from the disenfranchised
in the south to the homeless in the North. From people
o f color who are disabled to battered women, from
young people in gangs to those crying out for
environmental justice in their communities.
Through the years the Commission for Racial Justice
spearheaded the international campaign to free the
Commission for Racial Justice spearheaded the
international campaign to free the Wilmington Ten
the Untied States ’ first political prisoners recognized
by Amnesty international and has spoken out on
behalf o f prisoners’ rights and for an end to the death
penalty. It has focused on incarcerated women and
the families o f those who are in prison.
Through these years, it has examined racism in public
education and pressed for quality public education
for every American child. It has helped some 6,500
young people o f color to attend college, many o f
whom were written off by the larger society.
Through the years the Commission for Racial justice
listened to those crying out for Justice in their
communities and then it has walked with them to make
their communities more healthy and safer to live in.
Sometimes that has meant getting arrested with those
opposing the siting o f toxic wastes in communities o f
color. Sometimes that has meant commissioning
studies like Toxic Wastes and Race, which we
published in 1987. Proving what we long suspected -
that communities o f color are more likely to have toxic
wastes dumped in them. Sometimes that has meant
assisting ourcomm uni ties to deal with theHIV/AIDS
epidemic raging though communities o f color or
helping local churches to become wellness centers for
our communities.
Through the years that has meant saving African
American institutions like Fanklinton Centerat Bricks.
A historic center in eastern North Carolina which has
a rich history educating and training African Americans
and which verged on closing in the 1980’s Today
Franklinton Center at Bricks is flouring and serving
not only as a conference and retreat center, but also
as a place o f empowerment for those fighting for
justice in their communities, their workplaces and in
our nation.
The Commission for Racial Justice was begun by the
Untied Church o f Christ to work for racial justice and
reconciliation shortly after the bombing o f the 16th street
Baptist Church in Birmingham and the assassination o f
Medger Evers. Many other so-called mainline Protestant
denominations began similar agencies in the 1960’s but
the Commission for Racial Justice has remained the only
fully-staffed agency devoted to racial justice issues.
Sadly, we found ourselves fighting many o f the same
problems at the end o f the century as we did when we
began- the burning o f Black churches, the inequities o f
the criminal justice system, discrimination in housing
and the workplace.
Through the years wherever African Americans, and
later wherever people o f color, were struggling for justice,
you could find the Commission for Racial Justice.
Whether it was on the picket and sit-in lines with the
Students Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, at the
National Black Political Convention in Gary, IN back in
1972, in Alabama during the 1980’s when Albert Turner
and other black activists were being harassed by the FBI
around so-called voter fraud cases; in New York City
during the many marches against police brutality or in
response to attacks on African Americans or in Convent,
LA when Shintech threatened to build the world’s largest
polyvinyl chloride manufacturing plant, the Commission
for Racial Justice has stood with our communities.
Much o f the tone o f work o f the Commission for Racial
Justice was set by its first Executive Director, the late Rev.
Charles E. Cobb, Sr. His legacy was carried forward by
Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. (now Benjamin Muhammad)
for the past seven years I have had the privilege and
honor o f serving as the Executive Director. Throughout
these 37 years, we have had extraordinary sta ff- men and
women dedicated to justice from the core if their being.
But now, as the United Church o f Christ reforms itself for
a new century and a new millennium, we will end our life
as the Commission for Racial Justice. The name will be no
more, but the commitment to the struggle for racial justice
will live on and will be embodied as the racial justice team
o f the Justice and Witness Ministries o f the United
States Church o f Christ. In this new life, our church will
continue to focus on racial justice issues, alongside
those o f economic justice. Human rights and justice for
women issues, justice for the disabled and gay and
lesbian people. Together, we will advocate for public
policies which are just and fair which speak to the needs
o f people in pain, not only in our nation but around the
world.
We are proud o f the history and the legacy o f Commission
for Racial Justice. We are determined that its nearly four
decades will not be in vain. We are committed to honoring
its work and the work o f all those dedicated staff and
board members and friends throughout its life. We shall
not give up the fight, we have only started...
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