In recent weeks, the continual public debate about race has heated with a new twist on an old controversy: an apology for the institution of slavery.

It is generally assumed the apology would largely resemble the one issued by President Clinton for the syphilis testing conducted by the United States government on black males in Tuskegee, Alabama. However, that apology was met with basically no resistance.

Individuals across the country recognized the need for restitution and healing, regardless of how long ago the crime occurred.

In contrast, America is divided on the issue of a national apology for slavery. To the surprise of some, there is not even a consensus among African Americans as to the necessity or role of such an apology.

However, Americans, black and white, must consider such an apology as a start, not a finish.

The United States government apologizing for the travesties and commitment of slavery will be a beginning, a recognition of the net result, as well as barbarism, of slavery.

Healing will be a portion of what comes, but a starting point will be the real benefit — a starting point of understanding.

In today’s world, the need for equality is fully recognized. Debates over affirmative action and hiring practices usually result from a difference in perception about the modern world. What some people perceive to be fair and level others see as loaded or predetermined.

Naturally, most views are related to a person’s orientation to life.

A black person and a white person will, in many instances, see the world differently because they have each interacted with the world in vastly different manners.

A black middle-class member will, in most cases, hold far more “radical” views than a white middle-class individual, despite their identical economic positions.

The rudimentary position of black citizens is well established. While many white individuals feel the country treats all fairly, many blacks feel there is still a long way to go.

Many black citizens believe the apology will do little to change any situation, while many white citizens believe they, as descendants of individuals long-since dead, are not responsible for the travesties of the past.

Nevertheless, each of these opinions disregard the inherent path slavery has established.

What many people fail to realize is slavery established economic roles as well as national groundwork for two races of people.

The black race was, at one point, enlisted as an underclass, designated to further the interest of another class of people.

When slavery was abolished, there existed already a specific group of people isolated from opportunity.

As black families moved to function within the confines of their lack of opportunity, there began the creation of large ghettos and pockets of poverty barren of many traditional tools for advancement.

An apology on behalf of the entire country would recognize the relationship between the origins of black people in the United States, and the plights faced today by descendants of these restricted individuals, many of whom exist in circumstances which offer the same lack of opportunity.

The disparity between black citizens’ achievements and white citizens’ achievements is directly linked to the level of inadequacy suffered by black citizens.

It must be remembered a national apology would be on behalf of the country; a single entity which tolerated and perpetuated a system of injustice.

An injustice acted not only as precedent, but as a foundation.

President Clinton issuing an apology would be an act of recognition, the start of a genuine healing process, not compensation.

Compensation will come in the form of descendants of slaves succeeding on their own, without help.

---

Zuri Jerdon is a senior in English from Cincinnati, Ohio.