[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 15547-15554]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   APOLOGIZING FOR THE ENSLAVEMENT AND RACIAL SEGREGATION OF AFRICAN 
                               AMERICANS

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will proceed to the consideration of S. Con. Res. 26, which the 
clerk will report.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the clerk 
read the entire text of the resolution.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 26), apologizing for 
     the enslavement and racial segregation of African Americans.
       Whereas, during the history of the Nation, the United 
     States has grown into a symbol of democracy and freedom 
     around the world;
       Whereas the legacy of African Americans is interwoven with 
     the very fabric of the democracy and freedom of the United 
     States;
       Whereas millions of Africans and their descendants were 
     enslaved in the United States and the 13 American colonies 
     from 1619 through 1865;
       Whereas Africans forced into slavery were brutalized, 
     humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected to the indignity of 
     being stripped of their names and heritage;
       Whereas many enslaved families were torn apart after family 
     members were sold separately;
       Whereas the system of slavery and the visceral racism 
     against people of African descent upon which it depended 
     became enmeshed in the social fabric of the United States;
       Whereas slavery was not officially abolished until the 
     ratification of the 13th

[[Page 15548]]

     amendment to the Constitution of the United States in 1865, 
     after the end of the Civil War;
       Whereas after emancipation from 246 years of slavery, 
     African Americans soon saw the fleeting political, social, 
     and economic gains they made during Reconstruction 
     eviscerated by virulent racism, lynchings, 
     disenfranchisement, Black Codes, and racial segregation laws 
     that imposed a rigid system of officially sanctioned racial 
     segregation in virtually all areas of life;
       Whereas the system of de jure racial segregation known as 
     ``Jim Crow'', which arose in certain parts of the United 
     States after the Civil War to create separate and unequal 
     societies for Whites and African Americans, was a direct 
     result of the racism against people of African descent that 
     was engendered by slavery;
       Whereas the system of Jim Crow laws officially existed 
     until the 1960's--a century after the official end of slavery 
     in the United States--until Congress took action to end it, 
     but the vestiges of Jim Crow continue to this day;
       Whereas African Americans continue to suffer from the 
     consequences of slavery and Jim Crow laws--long after both 
     systems were formally abolished--through enormous damage and 
     loss, both tangible and intangible, including the loss of 
     human dignity and liberty;
       Whereas the story of the enslavement and de jure 
     segregation of African Americans and the dehumanizing 
     atrocities committed against them should not be purged from 
     or minimized in the telling of the history of the United 
     States;
       Whereas those African Americans who suffered under slavery 
     and Jim Crow laws, and their descendants, exemplify the 
     strength of the human character and provide a model of 
     courage, commitment, and perseverance;
       Whereas, on July 8, 2003, during a trip to Goree Island, 
     Senegal, a former slave port, President George W. Bush 
     acknowledged the continuing legacy of slavery in life in the 
     United States and the need to confront that legacy, when he 
     stated that slavery ``was . . . one of the greatest crimes of 
     history . . . The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end 
     with slavery or with segregation. And many of the issues that 
     still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of 
     other times. But however long the journey, our destiny is 
     set: liberty and justice for all.'';
       Whereas President Bill Clinton also acknowledged the deep-
     seated problems caused by the continuing legacy of racism 
     against African Americans that began with slavery, when he 
     initiated a national dialogue about race;
       Whereas an apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization 
     and injustices cannot erase the past, but confession of the 
     wrongs committed and a formal apology to African Americans 
     will help bind the wounds of the Nation that are rooted in 
     slavery and can speed racial healing and reconciliation and 
     help the people of the United States understand the past and 
     honor the history of all people of the United States;
       Whereas the legislatures of the Commonwealth of Virginia 
     and the States of Alabama, Florida, Maryland, and North 
     Carolina have taken the lead in adopting resolutions 
     officially expressing appropriate remorse for slavery, and 
     other State legislatures are considering similar resolutions; 
     and
       Whereas it is important for the people of the United 
     States, who legally recognized slavery through the 
     Constitution and the laws of the United States, to make a 
     formal apology for slavery and for its successor, Jim Crow, 
     so they can move forward and seek reconciliation, justice, 
     and harmony for all people of the United States: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That the sense of the Congress is the following:
       (1) Apology for the enslavement and segregation of african-
     americans.--The Congress--
       (A) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, 
     brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws;
       (B) apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people 
     of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them 
     and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow 
     laws; and
       (C) expresses its recommitment to the principle that all 
     people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights 
     to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and calls on 
     all people of the United States to work toward eliminating 
     racial prejudices, injustices, and discrimination from our 
     society.
       (2) Disclaimer.--Nothing in this resolution--
       (A) authorizes or supports any claim against the United 
     States; or
       (B) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United 
     States.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, there 
will now be 60 minutes of debate with respect to the concurrent 
resolution, with the time equally divided and controlled between the 
two leaders or their designees.
  The Senator from Iowa is recognized.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, the clerk read, for the first time ever 
in this body, what we should have done a long time ago: an apology for 
slavery and the Jim Crow laws which, for a century after emancipation, 
deprived millions of Americans their basic human rights, equal justice 
under law, and equal opportunities. Today, in the Senate, we 
unanimously make that apology.
  First of all, I wish to thank my friend, Senator Sam Brownback, for 
all his hard work over the last couple years working together to get 
this finally to this point. I can't thank him enough. He wouldn't give 
up, and he stuck in there with us all the time, working to make sure 
that this day would come. I thank him profusely for his help in this 
effort.
  I also wish to publicly thank Congressman Steve Cohen, on the House 
side, who is the leader of this resolution that they will pass soon 
over there.
  John Quincy Adams once remarked that:

       Our country began its existence by the universal 
     emancipation of man from the thralldom of man.

  Indeed, America's purpose and enduring ideal can be summed up in one 
simple, but powerful, sentence:

       We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are 
     created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain 
     inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and 
     the pursuit of happiness.

  Yet, as we all know, for too long, many in this country were not 
free. Many lived in bondage. Many Americans were denied their basic 
human rights and liberty. From 1619 to 1865, over 4 million Africans 
and their descendants were enslaved in the United States. Millions were 
kidnapped from their homeland and suffered unimaginable hardships, 
including death, during the Middle Passage voyage to America--a crime 
against humanity. In Elmina Castle, on the coast of Ghana, a place I 
recently visited, there is a chillingly named ``Door of No Return''--an 
infamous open portal which, as one looks over the horizon across the 
Atlantic, makes all too clear the excruciating inhumanity and horror 
faced by the men and women shackled inside this Castle as they were led 
through that door and put on the slave ships bound for America; led 
through that door, enslaved, never to return to their families, their 
tribe or their native land.
  On American soil, these individuals were treated as property. These 
human beings were denied basic rights, including the right to their own 
name and heritage; any rights to education; even the right to maintain 
a family were denied to them. As Chief Justice Taney sadly made all too 
clear in the infamous Dred Scott case, he said of African Americans--
and I quote from his decision--African Americans:

       [Were] not included, and were not intended to be included, 
     under the word ``citizens'' in the Constitution, and [could] 
     therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that 
     instrument provides for and secures to the citizens of the 
     United States. On the contrary, they were at that time 
     considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beings, who 
     had been subjugated by the dominant race, and, whether 
     emancipated or not, yet remained subject to their authority, 
     and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held 
     the power and the Government might choose to grant them.

  That is one of the saddest decisions ever made by the Supreme Court 
of the United States.
  While the Reconstruction amendments--the 13th amendment banning 
slavery, the 14th amendment granting full citizenship to all Americans, 
and the 15th amendment guaranteeing the right to vote--espoused the 
principles of equality for all, widespread oppression continued. Under 
slavery's harsh replacement, Jim Crow, African Americans were denied 
voting rights, denied employment opportunities, denied access to public 
accommodations, denied entry into military service, denied criminal 
justice protections, denied housing, education, police protection, and 
due process. In short, they were denied their very humanity. Not until 
passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 
and other Federal protections, did legal

[[Page 15549]]

segregation officially cease in this country.
  The destructive effects of both slavery and Jim Crow remain, however. 
As President Bush noted, ``The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not 
end with slavery or with segregation.'' President Clinton likewise 
stated that the racial divide is ``America's constant curse.'' Today, 
many African Americans remain mired in poverty, and average incomes 
remain below that of White Americans. There remains an achievement gap 
in education, and for many health conditions, African Americans bear a 
disproportionate burden of disease, injury, death, and disability. 
African Americans are, moreover, disproportionately involved with the 
criminal justice system.
  Recently, States--Alabama, Connecticut, Maryland, Florida, New 
Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia--enacted resolutions apologizing 
for the role their States played in sanctioning and promoting slavery 
and segregation.
  Corporations such as J.P. Morgan, Aetna, and Wachovia have also 
acknowledged and apologized for their role in, and profit from, 
slavery.
  Slavery, Jim Crow laws, and their lasting consequences, however, are 
an enduring national shame. It was the United States that enshrined 
slavery in the Constitution and protected it for nearly a century. It 
is Congress that passed the shameful laws, such as the Missouri 
Compromise of 1820 and Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which protected and 
furthered slavery. It was our Nation's Supreme Court which bolstered 
slavery and legally sanctioned segregation, as I said, in the Dred 
Scott case of 1857, and Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The Court said we 
could be separate but equal. It was the Federal Government which was 
officially segregated. By 1913, all Federal departments were 
segregated. It was the United States which kept African Americans who 
wanted nothing more than to serve their country segregated in the 
military. It was not until 1948 that President Truman issued the 
executive order desegregating the military.
  Presidents as far back as John Adams have acknowledged the injustice 
of slavery. In 1998, President Clinton spoke of the evils of slavery 
and expressed regret for America's role in the slave trade. In 2004, 
President Bush visited Goree Island, a holding place for captured 
slaves in Africa, and spoke of the wrongs and injustices of slavery, 
calling it ``one of the great crimes of history.''
  Moreover, in 1988, Congress rightly apologized for the internment of 
Japanese Americans held during World War II. In 1993, Congress justly 
apologized to native Hawaiians for overthrowing their king. The Senate 
has correctly apologized for its failure to enact antilynching 
legislation. Last year, as part of the Indian health bill, the Senate 
passed an amendment apologizing, rightfully, to Native Americans.
  Yet this Congress has never offered a formal apology for slavery and 
Jim Crow, and it is long past due. A national apology by the 
representative body of the people is a necessary, collective response 
to a past collective injustice. It is both appropriate and imperative 
that Congress fulfill its moral obligations and officially apologize 
for slavery and Jim Crow laws.
  As we acknowledge and apologize for this great injustice, we would be 
remiss, however, to fail to recognize those Americans who, with great 
courage, fought to ensure that this country lived up to its founding 
ideals. Hundreds of thousands served their country and risked their 
lives so others could be free, and many gave, in the words of Abraham 
Lincoln, ``the last full measure of their devotion.''
  From the beginning of the Republic to the present, individuals of all 
races, nationalities, genders, creeds, and religions have risked much, 
including their lives, striving for a better and more just America. It 
is these often nameless individuals who registered voters in the 
Mississippi Delta, marched over the bridge at Selma, fought for better 
jobs and housing in northern cities, and desegregated lunch counters.
  I point to people such as Edna Griffen, John Bibbs, and Leonard 
Hudson. In 1948, they entered Katz Drugstore in Des Moines, IA, on a 
hot summer day and ordered Cokes and ice cream at a segregated lunch 
counter. When the manager refused to serve them because the store did 
not ``serve coloreds,'' Ms. Griffen refused to leave, and outraged 
Iowans responded with sit-ins and picketed Katz and other restaurants 
that refused to serve people because of their race. And they won. The 
lunch counters were desegregated. Who but a handful knows of Edna 
Griffen, John Bibbs, or Leonard Hudson? It is only because of the 
extraordinary acts of bravery by ordinary Americans like these in all 
corners of this country that the mighty walls of oppression have been 
torn down. As this Nation formally apologizes and acknowledges slavery 
and Jim Crow, we must also recognize that this Nation owes these 
individuals, most known only to their friends and families, an enormous 
debt of gratitude.
  As we make this formal apology, moreover, we must acknowledge and 
celebrate the deep, lasting contributions that slaves, former slaves, 
and their descendents have made to this country in every field of human 
endeavor--law, literature, science, medicine, art, business, education, 
sports, and politics. Indeed, the list goes on and on. Six months ago, 
an African American took the oath of office as President of the United 
States for the first time in our Nation's history.
  In conclusion, I want to read from the resolution, so all those in 
the gallery and the American people hear the long overdue words 
emanating from this body:

       Congress acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, 
     brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow law; 
     apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people of 
     the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and 
     their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow law; 
     and expresses its recommitment to the principle that all 
     people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights 
     to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and calls on 
     all people of the United States to work toward eliminating 
     racial prejudices, injustices and discrimination from our 
     society.

  In closing, I think it is important to note that this resolution will 
soon pass by unanimous consent, which means every Senator supports it 
without objection.
  Finally, let us make no mistake, this resolution will not fix 
lingering injustices. While we are proud of this resolution and believe 
it is long overdue, the real work lies ahead. Let us continue to work 
together to create better opportunities for all Americans. That is 
truly the best way to address the lasting legacy of slavery and Jim 
Crow.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Kansas is 
recognized.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Madam President, first, I start with acknowledging a 
couple of individuals. First and foremost, the Senator from Iowa, 
Senator Harkin, has orchestrated and navigated this matter to bring it 
forward. I think everybody owes a deep debt of gratitude to him and his 
staff for getting this done.
  This is a significant day and a significant event. It doesn't happen 
without a lot of effort. It is going to be one of those days and places 
and times that goes down in history in this body. It is important. It 
is important to us. It is important to the Nation, and it is important 
that it be clearly acknowledged, and it is going to get done. I thank 
my colleague from Iowa for getting this organized and moving it 
forward. I also thank, obviously, the majority leader for setting this 
time up, the Republican leader, and our colleagues, particularly 
Senator Levin, who is a sponsor, and on our side, Senator Cochran, 
Senator Bond, and many others.
  I ask unanimous consent at this time that Senator Corker be added as 
a cosponsor to the resolution.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Also, our staffs worked very hard on this. I have to 
thank LaRochelle Young on my staff, who has worked hard on this issue. 
She has been dedicated to get this through and forward. I thank her for 
her great work.

[[Page 15550]]

  It is my experience that apologies are tough to do. They are tough as 
individuals, tough as groups, and tough as nations. When this issue 
would come up, a lot of people would say: Yes, I acknowledge that 
happened, but I didn't do it or that happened a long time ago, so can't 
we move past it? Yet my experience has been that until you actually 
acknowledge the wrong that has been done and say, ``I did this and it 
was wrong and I apologize,'' there remains a barrier there--something 
you cannot get over, no matter how many words you put around it, no 
matter how much feeling may be there, until you actually say it. That 
is why apologies are tough, because they are hard to do when they get 
right at the core of the issue. They get at the core that a wrong was 
done. What we are saying in the Senate today is that a wrong was done--
a wrong of slavery was done by the Federal Government of the United 
States, a wrong of segregation was done by the Federal Government of 
the United States. We acknowledge that. We say it was wrong and we ask 
for forgiveness for that.
  It doesn't fix everything, as Senator Harkin pointed out but it does 
go a long way toward acknowledging it and it gives us the ability to 
move to the next step in building a more perfect union, and do the 
things that Martin Luther King would talk about, where you can have a 
colorblind society. It is significant and important that we do it.
  I think in my own personal experiences in this category, learning 
about William Wilberforce, from the British Parliament, who worked on 
ending the slave trade in Great Britain. It was a key issue for them to 
get over that hurdle. It took years and they got it done. I also 
acknowledge friends of mine, in current iterations, who traveled across 
America with a kettle. This kettle was a kettle that former slaves used 
to cook in. They would do the evening cooking for their meals in it. 
This was kind of the gathering place for the slaves--this gentleman's 
ancestors' kettle. He took it around the country and he would talk 
about them getting together and using it for a meal. After the meal was 
done, they would clean the kettle, and it was big enough that they 
would actually huddle under the kettle and pray. They would pray for 
their freedom. That was the kettle tour. Their aspiration and hope for 
so many years was to be free. They were taking the kettle around the 
country as a physical symbol of the yearning for freedom that the 
people had. The slaveowners would get mad about it, but they could not 
hear them as they would mutter their silent and soft prayers under the 
kettle. I have seen many different physical representations of what has 
taken place.
  I grew up in eastern Kansas, where the fight started about whether my 
State would be a free State or a slave State. In the Nebraska-Kansas 
compromise that this body crafted, Nebraska was supposed to be a free 
State and Kansas a slave State because Iowans would come across to 
Nebraska and populate that. Missourians were closer to Kansas and they 
would populate Kansas and be a slave State and maintain that balance of 
power. That is also something we should apologize for. John Quincy 
Adams called slavery the ``original sin of the United States,'' for 
which we are asking forgiveness today. And in that situation developed 
my part of eastern Kansas--known as Bleeding Kansas because while 
people did come across who were proslavery, other individuals organized 
from the Northeast to populate Kansas, and they were abolitionists and 
they came with a desire to fight for freedom. There were many irregular 
battles that took place, guerilla warfare, the Battle of Osawatomie, 
where my mother grew up, the burning and sacking of Lawrence, and all 
this back and forth about slavery taking place.
  Just before the Battle of Osawatomie, John Brown said--and he was in 
that fight, and one of his sons was killed in it--there will not be 
peace in this land until the issue of slavery is resolved. He was 
right. Less than 10 years later, the Civil War broke out over the issue 
of slavery.
  Today in the Senate, we pledge to move beyond this shameful period, 
and we officially acknowledge and apologize for the institution of 
slavery in this country--what many refer to as the original sin of 
America--which was once woven into the fabric of our Nation, and for 
the Federal laws we passed in this Chamber and upheld by the highest 
Court in our land, the Supreme Court. My colleague has already referred 
to some of those laws, but I want to refer passingly to several as 
well, laws such as the Fugitive Slave Law, first approved on February 
12, 1793, and subsequently amended in 1850 and 1864, which sought to 
punish those persons who dared to escape the brutality of slavery and 
those who helped to free individuals in bondage. Not only would a 
suspected runaway slave be dragged into court, but they would be unable 
to say a word on his or her behalf, not one word. They weren't allowed 
to say a single word.
  My colleague mentioned the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which was 
crafted as a solution to the ever-increasing and volatile dispute over 
the question of slavery in the United States. In 1819, when Missouri 
sought statehood, the question was whether Missouri would be admitted 
to the Union as a slave State or a free State. This set off an intense 
debate between northern and southern legislators. Missouri's 
ratification would upset this delicate balance between slave States and 
free States in the Senate.
  In order to keep the already tenuous balance, Henry Clay worked out a 
compromise consisting of three parts: Maine would separate from 
Massachusetts and be admitted as a free State, Missouri would enter the 
Union as a slave State, and the remaining territories of the Louisiana 
Purchase would be closed off to slavery.
  However, unrest around the brutal practice of slavery continued until 
further compromises came forward. Additionally, a compromise to outlaw 
the slave trade, but not slavery, in the District of Columbia--where we 
are today--was enacted to facilitate the retrieval of slaves who had 
run away to the North. While this compromise did little to satisfy the 
antislavery movement, it did temporarily preserve the Union, and many 
historians refer to this period as the ``calm before the storm.'' And 
then my State enters--Bleeding Kansas.
  As the United States continued to expand, the very fabric of our 
Nation was about to be torn in two regarding a people's right to be 
free. In the midst of this debate was my great State of Kansas.
  On May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law. Frederick 
Douglass deemed the new law ``an open invitation to a fierce and bitter 
strife,'' and those words proved to be very prophetic. Shortly after 
the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law, there was a rush to settle Kansas. 
As I mentioned, both proslavery and abolitionists alike were determined 
to settle Kansas for their cause. The turmoil continued. We had bloody 
balloting, we had stolen elections taking place, until we did finally 
enter the Union as a free State.
  There were passions surrounding that which ignited even on the Senate 
floor, passions that abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner delivered a 
rousing speech on the Senate floor called ``The Crime Against Kansas,'' 
accusing proslavery Senators of siding with slavery. In apparent 
retaliation, Congressman Preston S. Brooks attacked and beat Charles 
Sumner senseless with a cane--an issue of some high memory on this 
floor even today.
  Following on June 2, 1856, there was retaliation. The Battle of Black 
Jack, in my State, ensued, which is widely believed to be the first 
conflict between free State supporters led by John Brown and the 
proslavery supporters, as well as one of the first battles of the Civil 
War.
  These things continued until my State came into the Union.
  I do wish to conclude at this point in time with noting just the 
importance of apologies. As I mentioned at the outset, they are 
difficult and they are important and they are hard to do and they are 
significant. Today, we right that wrong of not offering an apology 
previously. Today, we move forward in

[[Page 15551]]

a spirit of unity. Today, we move toward a true cleansing of our 
Nation's past sins rooted in racism.
  There may be those who consider an apology insignificant or purely 
for symbolic means. I completely disagree. In 1988, Congress apologized 
for the internment of Japanese Americans held during World War II. When 
asked in an interview 20 years after the apology was signed to give 
thoughts on the matter, Aiko Yamamoto, who at the time of the interview 
was 72, said: ``It was the apology that mattered.'' Similarly, Norman 
Mineta, former Congressman and U.S. Secretary of Commerce and of 
Transportation, who was also interned during World War II, said of the 
apology: ``It will always mean more to me than I can ever adequately 
express.''
  However, the cleansing effects of an apology are not only limited to 
those who are owed an apology but to those giving the apology as well. 
It is the acknowledgment that a terrible wrong was committed--never to 
be committed again--and a willingness to now, through the process of 
reconciliation, work toward a brighter future for all people unburdened 
by the difficulties of the past but uplifted by the promises of the 
future--a future where our destinies are inextricably linked together.
  Although this anthem is correctly titled ``The Negro National 
Anthem,'' the final stanza of its words so eloquently written by James 
Weldon Johnson not only rings true for the African-American community 
but for all America.

       God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who 
     hast brought us thus far on the way; thou who hast by thy 
     might, led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we 
     pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God where we 
     meet thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, 
     we forget thee; shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever 
     stand, true to our God, true to our native land.

  May we, with this apology, move forward into the light of unity, 
united under a common purpose, linked together in a singular humanity. 
I am delighted that we are doing this today.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Michigan.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, first, at this point, I wish to thank 
Senators Harkin and Brownback for the initiative they have taken, for 
their leadership in bringing before the Senate this healing resolution, 
this formal apology for slavery and racial segregation.
  The resolution before us presents us with the opportunity to address 
face-to-face the unconscionable and the abhorrent acts of slavery and 
its aftermath perpetrated against fellow human beings. The apology 
resolution describes some of the gravest injustices of slavery: 
families enslaved, then torn further apart after family members were 
sold separately, stripped of their names and heritage; a system of 
forced labor that persisted for 250 years; brutal and unspeakable acts 
of violence against slaves. The injustices continued well after the 
13th amendment to the Constitution ended slavery in our Nation because 
Jim Crow laws disenfranchised former slaves and subjugated them as 
second-class citizens.
  After presenting detailed findings regarding slavery and the system 
of de jure segregation known as Jim Crow, the resolution reads, in 
part, that the Senate:

       Acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, 
     and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws; Apologizes to 
     African Americans on behalf of the people of the United 
     States for the wrongs committed against them and their 
     ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws; and, 
     Expresses its recommitment to the principle that all people 
     are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to 
     life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and calls on all 
     people of the United States to work toward eliminating racial 
     prejudices, injustices and discrimination from our society.

  In 2005, the Senate passed a resolution formally apologizing for 
another tragic legacy of historic racial inequalities in our Nation: 
lynching. From 1880 to as recently as the 1960s, an estimated 5,000 
Americans, predominantly African Americans, were killed by public 
hangings, burnings, and mutilation. Members of the Armed Forces were 
lynched in the country they had defended. Following both World War I 
and World War II, returning soldiers were lynched, many while still 
wearing their military uniforms. There would be no new respect for 
these brave African Americans who had fought for our country, only the 
old order of injustice.
  The Senate passed the resolution apologizing for lynching in an 
attempt to acknowledge the Senate's past failure to address the 
prevalence of those despicable acts and to allow for some national 
healing. It is my hope that the slavery apology resolution before us 
can serve a similar purpose.
  We are fortunate to live in a time that is not blighted by slavery in 
this country or segregation under the law. But we live with the legacy 
of the practice of slavery, and it is our responsibility and our duty 
to continue to examine that history in order to improve the present and 
the future.
  This apology is part of carrying out that responsibility. And doing 
so in the presence of visitors who are descendants of slaves adds to 
the meaning of our action.
  Madam President, I again thank the cosponsors of the resolution.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. BURRIS. Madam President, more than 200 years ago at the height of 
a humid summer in Philadelphia, 56 men affixed their signatures to a 
document that contained these words:

       We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
     created equal.

  These words expressed a sentiment that could not be realized for all 
Americans until more than a century later. At that moment, when the 
United States of America was born and the Declaration signed, a great 
injustice was woven into the fabric of our Nation. Slavery and the 
racial segregation that followed have left a tragic legacy that divided 
this country in the bloodiest war we have yet known. It is a legacy 
that still affects each and every one of us this day.
  My colleagues, Senators Harkin and Brownback, have introduced a 
resolution apologizing for slavery, Jim Crow laws, and policies of 
segregation and hate. This is often an uncomfortable subject so I 
applaud my colleagues for their willingness to confront the difficult 
history we all share. I thank them for their leadership on the issue 
and rise in support of the resolution which just passed.
  Several State governments have issued similar apologies. But the fact 
that the plight of slavery was a national concern demands a national 
response.
  Some in the Black community will dismiss this resolution. Some will 
say that words don't matter, that the actions of our forefathers cannot 
be undone. It is true that those who toiled in the fields, those who 
were deprived of their freedom, will gain no peace from this 
resolution. Their story is inescapably in our history. It is a story we 
must confront and try to overcome on a daily basis. But words do 
matter; they matter a great deal--the words in the Declaration of 
Independence acknowledging the equality of all men, even if the flawed 
policies of the time failed to embrace it; the words of a President who 
held the Union together and promised ``a new birth of freedom,'' even 
if his words required the forces of an army to achieve liberty for all; 
the words of a Supreme Court opinion which declared ``separate but 
equal'' was not justice, even if the Nation was not quite ready to 
listen; the words of a King who dared to dream of a promised land, even 
if he knew he might not live long enough to see it; the words of a 
troubled nation searching for hope in time of fear, which seized upon 
the rallying cry of a young Black man from Illinois whose words 
inspired a people to cry ``yes, we can'' with one voice--all of these 
words reinforced the fundamental truth we have uttered to ourselves and 
our children since the birth of this Nation: In America, anything is 
possible.
  As I look around this Senate floor today, I think of my parents who 
never saw this Chamber. I think of my grandparents who never saw this 
city. I think of my ancestors who could dream only of their freedom. I 
think of my great-great-grandfather who was given

[[Page 15552]]

that freedom. Freed from bondage as a slave in 1865, near Columbus, GA, 
without a name of his own, he adopted the Army rank as his first name, 
Major, and he adopted the name of his county, Green, as his last name. 
He named himself Major Green. In a span of those few generations, I 
stand here in the Senate Chamber as the great-great-grandson of Major 
Green on that uniquely American arc of history that has taken my family 
from slavery to the Senate.
  As a nation, we have come a long way. But we cannot turn our backs on 
the shame of slavery, just as we cannot turn our backs on the rest of 
the Constitution that at one time embraced it. The greatness of this 
Nation comes from our ability to chart a new course, to shape and 
reshape the destiny that we share, choosing to reject injustice and 
cruelty, choosing to overcome the tragic legacy of past mistakes and 
look ahead to a bright future. This resolution cannot erase the 
terrible legacy, but it can help to heal the wounds of centuries gone 
by. It can pave the way for future progress.
  This journey, however, is far from over. We have not yet reached the 
equality promised in our founding documents--equality that transcends 
race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion, equality upon which our 
ever perfecting Union is founded. This story is still being written. As 
we confront the enduring legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, this 
resolution is an important part of moving forward.
  I would like the Record to show that this resolution has a different 
ending from a resolution passed by the 110th Congress. This resolution 
carries a disclaimer. I want to go on record making sure that that 
disclaimer in no way would eliminate future actions that may be brought 
before this body that may deal with reparations.
  I thank Senator Harkin and Senator Brownback for their leadership on 
this issue. I urge my colleagues to join us as we seek to write the 
next chapter in our history, to move forward, not only saying we 
apologize for slavery but moving forward to make sure all remnants of 
discrimination of any kind are removed from this great Nation of ours.
  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.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I rise today in strong support for S. 
Con. Res. 26, apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of 
African Americans. I thank Senators Harkin and Brownback for 
introducing this resolution and note that the Senate's approval of this 
resolution will occur on the eve of Juneteenth. Also known as Freedom 
or Emancipation Day, Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of the 
abolition of slavery in Texas and marks the day when Union troops 
started to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation throughout the United 
States.
  In 2007, Maryland became the second State after Virginia to adopt a 
resolution officially expressing profound regret for its role in 
instituting and maintaining slavery and for the insidious 
discrimination that followed, which became slavery's legacy. I am proud 
that my home State's elected officials publicly acknowledged and showed 
remorse for its part in that sad and enduring chapter in our Nation's 
history. And now we have an opportunity to do the same as an entire 
country.
  From 1700 to 1770, thousands of West Africans who survived the middle 
passage slave trade route ended up in the Chesapeake Bay region. 
Annapolis, our capital, was the main port of entry for slaves in the 
mid-Atlantic region. Millions of Africans were forcibly uprooted from 
their families in their native lands and shipped across the Atlantic in 
chains. Most died. Only one in four African-born slaves survived his or 
her first year in the Chesapeake area. By 1790, more than 100,000 
slaves, a third of the State's total population, lived in Maryland.
  True patriots with Maryland roots fought to end the institution of 
slavery, and they merit our gratitude and honor. Frederick Douglass, 
born into slavery in 1818 on Maryland's Eastern Shore, escaped in 1836 
and became a free man in Massachusetts. Upon gaining his freedom he 
made it his life's work to advocate for the abolition of slavery and 
for racial equality. Harriet Ross Tubman spent nearly 30 years as slave 
in Maryland's Dorchester County, also on the Eastern Shore. She escaped 
in 1849, and returned many times over the next decade to Dorchester and 
Caroline counties to lead hundreds of slaves north to freedom. Known as 
``Moses'' by abolitionists, she reportedly never lost a ``passenger'' 
on the Underground Railroad.
  The abolitionists eventually succeeded, but only after a monumental 
struggle that culminated in the Civil War and the executive orders 
President Abraham Lincoln issued which comprised the Emancipation 
Proclamation. In 1864, with the adoption of a new State Constitution, 
slavery officially ended in Maryland. A year later, in 1865, the 13th 
Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, officially 
abolishing slavery throughout the United States. Yet following 
Reconstruction, the period in which newly freed men and women made 
significant social, economic and political gains, a new era of ``Jim 
Crow,'' the pernicious system of de jure racial segregation, dawned.

[[Page 15553]]

  Maryland was among the border and southern States that perpetuated 
segregation, passing 15 Jim Crow laws between 1870 and 1957. It was 
during these years that numerous organizations were founded to be 
catalysts for change. One such organization, the National Association 
for the Advancement of Colored People--NAACP--was founded on February 
12, 1909, in response to the horrific practice of lynching. I am a 
lifetime member of the NAACP and am proud that its tradition continues 
to this day, and that my city of Baltimore is home to its national 
headquarters.
  Maryland might be considered a microcosm of the Nation as a whole. 
While Maryland instituted and perpetuated the institutions of slavery 
and ``Jim Crow,'' there arose some truly inspiring heroes who 
courageously fought against the system and succeeded. Baltimore's own 
Thurgood Marshall, for instance, developed into one of the most 
influential and inspiring legal minds of the 20th Century. He was a 
true leader of the civil rights revolution in the 1950s and 1960s, 
working through the courts to eradicate the legacy of slavery and 
destroy the racist segregation system of Jim Crow. And he succeeded. He 
won multiple Supreme Court rulings, including the landmark Brown v. the 
Board of Education of Topeka case, effectively ending legal segregation 
in schooling, housing, public transportation, and voting. He went on to 
become the Nation's first African-American Supreme Court Justice.
  We have made substantial progress but it has been shamefully slow. As 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., remarked, ``Change does not roll in on the 
wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.'' At 
long last, we have elected an African-American President. We still have 
more to do. The harmful legacies of slavery and ``Jim Crow'' persist in 
America today, with glaring racial disparities in our criminal justice 
system, health care, home-ownership rates, and wealth. We need to do 
more as a Nation to confront and eliminate these gaps. And although we 
have truly come a long way since those days, America must acknowledge 
the atrocities of our past, so that we can fulfill the ideals on which 
our nation was founded. This resolution is that acknowledgement.
  Mr. KOHL. Madam President, Harriet Ann Jacobs, a writer, 
abolitionist, and former slave wrote, ``No pen can give an adequate 
description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery.'' Just 
as no pen can describe how horrible the effects of slavery are, no 
words will be able to express adequately our apology. But it is long 
past time we tried the impossible task of apologizing for this terrible 
period in our history.
  Slavery was a deeply shameful period in our history, and the effects 
on our country and our people can still be seen today. African 
Americans still suffer from the years of slavery and institutional 
racism of the Jim Crow years. This resolution will not erase the damage 
of those years, but it is a necessary step if we are ever to heal the 
wounds that remain.
  The early growth of our country--including the building of this very 
Capitol Building--would have been impossible without the labor and 
skills of African-American slaves. Our success as a nation was built on 
their backs, and at an awful price. Today, finally, with the passage of 
S. Con. Res. 26, we recognize their sacrifice and apologize for what 
they suffered.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I know other speakers are coming down to 
speak on this resolution. Before the time runs out and since no one is 
here right now to speak, I wish to acknowledge several people who have 
been very instrumental in getting us to this point.
  First, I thank the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights for all they 
have done to not only bring us to this point--to this apology--but for 
all they have done to enhance and promote civil rights for Americans. I 
also recognize the longtime president, Wade Henderson, who has devoted 
his entire life to the cause of racial injustice and ensuring this 
Nation lives up to its founding ideals.
  Second, I acknowledge and thank the NAACP. February marked the end of 
the NAACP's 100th birthday, founded on the 100th birthday of Abraham 
Lincoln by a multiracial group of men and women committed to equality. 
For 100 years, the NAACP has fought for justice for all Americans, and 
I thank their president, Benjamin Todd Jealous, and through him all the 
members of the NAACP.
  Third, I wish to acknowledge several staff members whose assistance 
made this resolution possible. Senator Brownback already recognized 
LaRochelle Young, but I also thank her for helping to shepherd this 
through and working to get us to this point. Jackie Parker, a senior 
adviser to Senator Levin and cofounder of the Senate Black Legislative 
Staff Caucus, has been instrumental in planning the upcoming ceremony 
with civil rights leaders and other luminaries to recognize the apology 
and injustices of slavery and Jim Crow.
  Finally, I would like to recognize the tireless work that my counsel, 
Daniel Goldberg, has dedicated to seeing this historic resolution 
become a reality. The countless hours he has committed to make this 
occasion happen are almost uncountable. I thank him publicly for making 
this possible.
  Last, I would like to add Senators Leahy, Dodd, Murray, and Kerry as 
cosponsors of the resolution.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Senator from Kansas is recognized.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Madam President, I, too, wish to acknowledge some 
individuals who have really helped to make this historic day take 
place. One for me is Congressman John Lewis, with whom I have been 
working for some period of time to get the Museum of African American 
History and Culture to be a reality on The Mall. The design has now 
been picked and the location has been picked. It is going to be at the 
base area of the Washington Monument. It is going to be a fabulous 
entity. What I like about it is it is going to show the difficulty, the 
tragedy, and is also going to show the promise in the future. It moves 
through the whole piece of it, and this resolution will be a part of 
it, of how a nation deals with such an enormous problem as this.
  John has been a very courageous, longstanding advocate in the mode of 
what John Quincy Adams was for years in fighting against slavery. He 
has been dedicated to this. I remember first going over to his office 
and him showing me a book of pictures that were of lynchings that had 
taken place, such a tragic set of pictures that you look at that 
happened in the early part of the 1900s in my State and many other 
States around the country. I am very appreciative of him.
  There are people who recently passed away, like Rosa Parks, who gave 
us these defining moments of the ending of segregation or in my State, 
like Cheryl Brown Henderson of the Brown family, Brown v. Board of 
Education, the landmark desegregation case where we said even if a 
school is equal, segregation is inherently wrong, and they stood for 
it, and stood tall, to bring us to a better point in time.
  It has not been all that long ago. I started out in a professional 
period in broadcasting. One of the guys next to me was a sports 
broadcaster, and he would tell the story about--and this is even in the 
Big 8, where Senator Harkin and I shared some territory--he talked 
about African Americans coming on the basketball court, being cheered 
wildly by everybody at the school but then not able to eat at the lunch 
counter in the community. While everybody is cheering for them on the 
basketball court, they cannot eat at the lunch counter. The 
sportscaster was talking to me about that.

[[Page 15554]]

  My old friend Jack Kemp, who recently passed away, was a strong 
advocate for African Americans and for doing things like this--what he 
saw in the sports field, for years, people in the Negro Baseball League 
Hall of Fame in Kansas City. We have a wonderful museum showing what it 
took to break through the racial barriers in sports and how positive 
that was but also how difficult that was during that period of time.
  All of these I am mentioning simply because it is part of how 
difficult it is to get to the point we get to today as a society. These 
things do take time, they are difficult, and there is a lot of pain and 
suffering that goes along the way.
  What Senator Harkin and I and all the cosponsors hope--it will be 
unanimously approved on this Senate floor--is that for all those 
individuals who have had these personal experiences themselves and felt 
it themselves, they will be able to see in this some acknowledgment of 
what happened to them, an acknowledgment that it was wrong and an 
apology for it. It doesn't fix it, but hopefully it does address it and 
starts to dig out the wound. There is a great book on this, ``Healing 
America's Wounds.'' The last name of the author is Dawson. He pointed 
out that these are very significant for society to be able to pull 
together around and that they have to be done for a society to be able 
to move forward. There is just no way around it, you have to actually 
address the problem and the topic.
  For those reasons and for the many millions of people who have 
suffered the legacies of slavery and segregation or suffered personally 
themselves under segregation in this country, we apologize as a United 
States Senate.
  I read the final words because they express it so well, that there is 
a sense of Congress of the following:

       Apology for the enslavement and segregation of African-
     Americans--The Congress--

     acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, 
     and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws;

     apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of 
     the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and 
     their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws; 
     and . . .

  Nothing in this resolution:

     authorizes or supports any claim against the United States; 
     or

     serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States

     expresses its recommitment to the principle that all people 
     are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to 
     life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and calls on all 
     people of the United States to work toward eliminating racial 
     prejudices, injustices, and discrimination from our society.

  It specifically does the apology but deals with nothing else. It 
says, ``Nothing in this resolution authorizes or supports any claim 
against the United States; or serves as a settlement of any claim 
against the United States,'' to leave that issue aside.
  I am very appreciative that a number of States have led the way 
moving forward with the apology. Virginia, Alabama, Florida, Maryland, 
North Carolina led in adopting resolutions officially expressing that 
remorse for slavery and for Jim Crow laws.
  I look forward to this unanimous consent. I am glad we are doing it 
now. We will have a recognition of this in a Rotunda ceremony. I think 
that will be important. I hope many Members will join us at that, and I 
think it will be a historic point in time.
  Madam President, I believe we are ready to call for the passage of 
the resolution? I yield to the Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. If the Senator will just yield, I thank my friend for his 
wonderful statement this morning and, again, for the many months and 
years we have worked together on this to get here, I thank him very 
much.
  In closing, Madam President, again I say a fitting ceremony is being 
planned for sometime early in July that will take place in the main 
Rotunda of the Capitol to mark this occasion. As I understand, we don't 
have a firm date yet, but that date will be coming about shortly in 
consultation with the Speaker and the minority leader in the House and 
the majority leader and minority leader here in the Senate. We are 
looking forward to that occasion, and I think it is one that will be 
poignant and one that will again bring home to all of us and to the 
American people the enormity of what we have done in terms of finally 
acknowledging the official role of the U.S. Government in promoting and 
sanctioning slavery and Jim Crow laws.
  I say to my friend from Kansas, we look forward to that ceremony, and 
I am sure the American people are looking forward to it also.
  I might ask, how much time remains?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. On the majority side, almost 8 
minutes, and on the Republican side, just over 9 minutes.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senators 
Menendez, Feingold, and Bennet be added as cosponsors.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, on behalf of the majority leader, I 
yield the remainder of our time.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. On behalf of the Republicans, I yield the remainder of 
our time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the adoption of 
the resolution.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Cons. Res. 26) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.

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