You know what gets on my nerves? Despite all the cool things going on here at Alabama, the only fucking time we make CNN is when something stupid happens. Case in point? U. of Alabama apologizes for slavery links.
For starters, it wasn’t “The University” that apologized, it was the University’s Faculty Senate. Secondly, what in the screaming blue fuck were they thinking??
For starters, what in the hell good does the apology do? Does anyone really think “Well, they haven’t apologized, so they must support slavery!” No. But nevermind that… the apology is fine, I suppose, so long as the verbiage is carefully chosen. Unfortunately, I can’t find the text that was passed. What I did find in the CW article, however, references what I thought to be the case:
Faculty Senate President John Mason said he was glad no one was able to take the “teeth” out of the resolution by eliminating the last item in it, which calls for the University to atone for the history of slavery on campus and “memorialize the contributions of slaves to the campus in some prominent fashion.”
This is where we start getting into trouble. The apology is alright, I suppose, but this business of “atoning” and recognizing slaves in a “prominent fashion” is just absurd. It’s just one small step away from granting reparations, and once we start heading in that direction, it’s going to be tough to stop it. This, also from the CW, is precisely what I mean:
Wythe Holt, co-chairman of the faculty life committee, said he was satisfied the resolution passed and glad the discussions about the resolution proceeded in a “calm and non-incriminatory way.”
However Holt said he believes more could have been done with the resolution to apologize to blacks.
“We could have emphasized that slavery is oppression, and we could have emphasized that it is uncivilized,” he said. “It also could have incorporated explicit appreciations for what the president has chosen to do.”
Do we really need a fucking resolution to tell us that slavery is oppression and uncivilized? If so, we’re in a WORLD of trouble.