Senate ready to apologize for not enacting anti-lynching law

Senate ready to apologize for not enacting anti-lynching law
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate seldom says it's sorry, although it is now ready to officially express its remorse over the failure to outlaw lynching in the United States.
A resolution that the chamber was likely to take up Monday voices regret for the Senate's unwillingness for years to pass a law stopping a crime that cost the lives of over 4,700 people, mostly blacks, between 1882 and 1968.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-06-13-senate-lynching_x.htm


Why do we need a law like this? I mean murder is murder. So if you lynch some one you are a murderer.

I agree that this seems like a waste of their time and nothing more than a PC feel good exercise. Do we need laws specfic to each possible way to kill someone? Racially motivated crimes are already covered by hate crime laws.

Don't get me started on Hate Crime Laws and how unfair they really are.

We needed Federal intervention during the time period in question because local, county and state police refused to arrest and courts refused to convict people participating in lynchings.

There was no hate crimes laws during this time period. People fought for 50 years to enact anti-lynching laws. It is nice to see that people can just flippantly toss aside their labors, many of them risking their own life. How soon people forget.


http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=fc9d6bac6881c8c42dabce3abcdb70e2

True, The senate (and the rest) should appologize for not stepping in and procecuting these murders and protecting black people from being lynched.

They shouldnt appologize for not passing a law.

If a white person was lynched they would have procecuted it as murder. They should appologize for having the racist double standard and for turning a blind eye.

I will admit this is as pointless as Clinton apologizing for Slavery. Why is the Senate doing this now? Do they think all these little baby step 1/2 assed bullshit is going to stop people from screaming about reperations? No, it is not.

Murder is Murder. If the cops are not doing the job in arresting the people murdering some one they are crimely responsible. Hate crime laws are unfair and wrong. If my white wife gets killed by a white man he goes to jail for 20 years. A None White (take your pick I don’t care) woman is killed by a white man he goes to jail for 35 years. So she is more important then my wife because my wife is white and her killer was white? (Side note most people in jail for hate crimes are Black not white) Murder is murder and should be treated as such.

The Senate can't prosecute cases (that's the judicial branch), nor can they directly protect people (the executive). What they could have and should have done was pass a law giving the Federal judiciary and executive the power to intervene. That's what they didn't do; that's what they're apologizing for.

I don't know if it's really significant at this point, and it's definitely much too late, but I wouldn't complain about the fact that they're at least trying to do the right thing. It's rare enough to see them do anything without a big campaign contribution from some multinational.

I haven't forgotten Eboni. I'm about as anti-racist as they come. I just think the Senate should be spending their time solving current problems rather than wasting their time on empty gestures. We should all be deeply ashamed that they failed to act when it was needed but what exactly does an apology do for anyone now except waste valuable time on the Senate floor? It's not like the racist assholes who filibustered against attempts at passing those laws are sorry for what they did. Maybe fifty years from now they can pass a resolution apologizing for failure to act in Dafur instead of doing something about it today.

You have a point, Chip, but one of the hardest things to do is to get Congress to admit where and why they screwed something up. There's always the faint hope that they'll remember this and learn from it.

"Mea culpa" doesn't solve anything by itself. But it's a necessary prerequisite to progress.

My view is no doubt colored by my cynicism regarding the sincerity of words from politicians. They should be judged on their actions, or lack thereof. No apology can excuse them for their failure to act, but it can delay them from acting on current pressing problems.

Was why I put the " (and the rest in) "

What the Senate could have done (as with a law it would have req the House) ..

Passed a resolution authorizing US Marshals/ Military (FBI?) support to protect US citizens (the black people in danger) against Civil Disorder.

Called for an investagtion of Municipal Judges who refused to enforce the law.

This would have put pressure on the President to do something.

Maybe the arguement is if they had passed an anti lynching law then they could have put pressure on the states to Enforce it specifically? In that context it makes more sense. (as I read what you are saying)

Yes some people are more and less important that others. Thats why it ok to have abortions even later term, and kill people who are in vegative states. Your life only has the value that other people place on it.

If a black kid goes missing it never makes the news, a little blonde haired white girl goes missing and you can't get the media to shut up. A black person kills a black person, they get less time than a person committing an interracial crime.

The police are more likely to actually find the killer of your white wife and put some effort into it than they are for a non white vicitim.

Life isn't fair.

Chip,


The US won't stop or halt the current genocide campaign they are executing in the US currently, called The War on Drugs. Why should they care about Dafur? Especially since the rest of the world doesn't care either.

Sad but true. I can't really argue with your logic there. The only thing that might sway them to act in Dafur is to score political points, which unfortunately is the same reason they won't end the war on drugs. It still sells well to the conservative base and plays into the whole "tough on crime" crap that every politician waves like a banner of freedom. In short, politicians are self serving twits

This "apology" is less timely than Mad magazine. Too little way too late. Its an empty gesture.

Seems like a redundant law to me. Enforce the ones we have, that should cover it I think?

The judicial branch may be attempting to "overstep" themselves sometimes, but this is more like the legislative trying to "overstep" into what should be judicial territory, I think.

If I recall correctly, wasn't the US the only one in the UN talking about this awhile back? Colin Powell I think may have had something to do with it? (could be wrong) I'm thinking back during the time we were REALLY preoccupied in the mideast and could hardly afford to divide ourselves even further (thus you would hope the UN would jump in). Now, well we're still somewhat held down by Iraq, although probably less so than a few years ago...

I imagine that if it goes on for much longer and/or gets even worse, someone will do something......might take a few years...........

So I think the finger pointing really belongs at the UN and the international community as a whole, not just the US.

They're not passing a law. It's a non-binding resolution, an apology. By the late sixties, the Southern states had started to realize that if they didn't enforce their own murder laws, the Feds could and would step in.

It would not have been redundant prior to that. The states were not doing their job, and special legislation was needed for the Federal government to intervene. Had it been passed when first proposed, thousands of lives might have been saved. Instead, thousands slowly strangled to death amidst a mob of hateful faces.

The Senate could have remained silent on the matter and few would have noticed or cared. They chose not to. For that, the Senate (Republicans and Democrats alike) has regained a small measure of my respect... even though it's far too little, far too late.

Oh, I was reacting to this and similar comments to earlier in the thread:



I understand the clarification though.

I think it would be nice to see individual Senators like Robert Byrd, who actually are/were Klan members expressing a little remorse, shame or embarrassment would be nice.