Apologizing For The Enslavement And Racial Segregation Of African Americans

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, 4 years ago the Senate took an important step in recognizing and apologizing for Congress's historic failure to pass an antilynching law. Today, we are considering a resolution to apologize for America's original sin--the sin of slavery.

By apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African Americans, we take another important step toward racial healing and reconciliation. This measure follows similar apologies issued by the States of Alabama, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia, which have all recognized their role in sanctioning the evils of slavery and Jim Crow. While we cannot correct the brutality and dehumanization caused by these evils, we can acknowledge the vestiges of harm caused by that dark chapter in our history. We can accept responsibility.

I am proud that when my home State of Illinois entered the Union in 1818, the Illinois State Constitution contained the following provision: ``Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall hereafter be introduced into this state otherwise than for the punishment of crimes.''

Soon after the granting of statehood, proponents of slavery in Illinois moved for a constitutional convention to amend the Illinois Constitution to allow slavery. The citizens of Illinois went to the polls in 1824 and voted against the convention by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent and chose to keep Illinois a free State.

A few years later, in 1856, a little known former Congressman from Springfield, IL, named Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech in Bloomington, IL, and said: ``Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not themselves, and under the rule of a just God cannot long retain it.''

But it took a Civil War, and the death of over 600,000 Americans, before slavery was finally abolished in this Nation.

Another American hero who put his life on the line for civil rights is JOHN LEWIS, who was nearly beaten to death while marching for the right to vote in Selma, AL, during the 1960s. Today he is a member of Congress. Last year, after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for slavery, JOHN LEWIS said the following:

The systematic dehumanization of African Americans for hundreds of years was a horrible crime, and the legacy of these atrocities still lingers with us today. For centuries, African Americans were denied wages, decent housing, food, clothing, and all the basic necessities of life. They were disenfranchised in the Constitution, barred from voting, from gaining an education, and any protection or right a citizen should expect in a civilized society. Our culture was destroyed, our lives were always in jeopardy, and our very humanity was in question. Any nation which perpetrates these kinds of atrocities on any of its citizens should at least apologize for its actions. And an apology is a very important step toward laying down the legacy of this tragedy once and for all.

I commend Senator Harkin and Senator Brownback for introducing this important resolution in the Senate, and I urge its immediate passage.

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