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We Needed To Hear That

Posted by: 6/19/2009 | 3,260 Views

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Today, we celebrate Juneteenth, a day commemorating the announcement of the abolition of slavery on June 19, 1865. Yesterday, after 144 years, the United States Senate apologized for slavery. With a unanimous vote, America has begun her healing process. For our country will never be able to heal itself without atoning for the sins of our past. We have finally recognized that in order for us to move forward as a people in this beautiful nation, we need to acknowledge the pain that we all have suffered because of slavery. The pain has lasted for the past 144 years, and now with our government taking the right step in apologizing, I know that we can begin to heal. The effects of slavery on our communities have been devastating. The devastation does not stop because of the apology; however these are words that we needed to hear. We all needed to hear. This was a day that many of us have dreamed about for our entire lives. This was a day that many who were at the forefront of this struggle could not enjoy because they are no longer with us. And for those heroes, I go to work every day to make sure that they are never forgotten.

http://globalgrind.com/content/750964/US-Senate-Apologizes-For-Slavery/

With my newly appointed position as the United Nations’ Goodwill Ambassador for the Permanent Memorial to the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, I vow to work on behalf of our young people to make sure that we never have to feel this sort of pain again. As we all know, slavery and human trafficking exist all around the world, at record numbers. We must remember the past, however we also must work to prevent our mistakes from happening again in the present and the future. I will work even harder in my roles as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, and I urge you all to take a moment to recognize the importance of the actions of the United States Senate. Let the healing continue…

Yours Truly,
His Excellency Ambassador Russell Simmons

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29 comments

RUSSELL U SHOULD BE ASHAMED!!!!

bee416 6/19/2009 | reply
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THIS IS bullsh*t AND HOODWINKERY AT ITS FINEST, JUST STOP!!!!!DO THE JEWS SAY LET THE HEALING BEGIN AND FORGIVE!!HELL NO BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT THE WORLD TO FORGET AND WE SHOULDN'T EITHER BECAUSE HISTORY CAN AND WILL REPEAT ITSELF!!!DON'T GIVE ME THAT bullsh*t BECAUSE THEY'RE STILL TRYING TO MAKE US SLAVES!!!!IF U DON'T KNOW WHAT SLAVERY WAS AND HOW IT WAS IMPLEMENTED THEN HOW DO YOU KNOW ITS OVER WAKE UP!!!!!

bee416 6/19/2009 | reply
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- Of course the Jews forgive. The SLOGAN for the Jews for the Holocaust is: FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET...so I think this is a very good step in the right direction. For 144 years the US govt has done nothing...now when they do something, we say f**k them?
  
  The Connector 6/19/2009 | reply
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- 144 years to late.
  
  Illmatic 6/19/2009 | reply
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- But if it never came, would that be better?
  
  The Connector 6/19/2009 | reply
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I bet you like bossy women Mr. Simmons or by bossy I'd mean terrestrial/practical/pragmatic. You need a realest to balance the dreamer.

Whereas I am the opposite? [kinda, I don't necessarily need a dreamer, but someone who motivates me to dream.]

Isn't that what beauty is? The physical embodiment of the inspiration to dream? Beauty leads us to imagine a future--some fantasies of a nearer and more immediate than others.

But most men find beauty in the same women. Like I suggest above, we men, project our needs onto the woman and fail to note the personality constructs she offers and our wherewithal for possession. [hmmmm....I see an AI crossover.]

Not that I take stock but my sissa is like the Detroit voodoo/reggae/trantric Madame Cleo, so it leads me to wonder your zodiac sign. [Imma start me an online astrological service and get paid...watch.]

Shemlock 6/19/2009 | reply
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- that's the definition of sprung.
  
  to project our desire (id) onto another person regardless of the exertion and at the compromise of the betterment of the moral self (super-ego)
  
  Shemlock 6/19/2009 | reply
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I am ambiguous because although it needed to be done I question the motivations. I doubt justice compelled them but fear and political correctness/expedience given the times.

My father told me to be wary of two things apologies and accidents. He said they are seldom sincere.

And Roger Zelazny once wrote:

Talk is cheap. Whiskey costs money.

So I have a much more jaded response to the announcement. I must allow time before I can render a more precise judgment.

Shemlock 6/19/2009 | reply
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- also to my sensibilities to recognize a wrong implicitly recognizes redress, whereas the Senate made explicit that though an apology it does not imply recompense. I would characterize an apology as of the beginning of compensation. If I 'accidentally' kill your dog with my car, and offer my apology then my words are the beginning of my effort to ease pain and suffering. So the redress need not be financial, but I am of the opinion that to offer an apology is perforce an attempt at redress.
  
  Shemlock 6/19/2009 | reply
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- So if the apology is to be taken as they have worded it, i.e. as recognition of a fact and nothing more, then they can take it and shove it up their ass.
  
  Shemlock 6/19/2009 | reply
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- So the language that it isn't an attempt at redress cheapens the apology to me and debases it.
  
  I'm sorry I said 'f*ck your mom' you b*tch.
  
  What they are saying is, don't bring up the money.
  
  But if I am, "f*ck YOU, PAY ME" then the 'apology' is a jaded insult.
  
  [though to my 'doppleganger' my position on the issue itself is likewise insulting to their interpretation of worldly events, i.e. the status quo.]
  
  Shemlock 6/19/2009 | reply
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- political doppleganger and not psychological of course.
  
  Shemlock 6/19/2009 | reply
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