Kansas does the right thing. Better late than

[rubato]

A small but significant step in the right direction:

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http://news.yahoo.com/kansas-governor-a ... 31090.html


KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) - Kansas Governor Sam Brownback apologized on Thursday to blacks for segregation in his state in the last century as he marked the anniversary of a ruling that struck down segregation in schools.

The Republican governor said Kansas had never really apologized for the "hateful practice" of segregating black people from white in public places after the abolition of slavery.

Brownback signed the proclamation on the 58th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1954 ruling in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education in which "separate but equal" schools for black and white students were declared unconstitutional. Topeka is the state capital of Kansas.

The proclamation apologized for the dehumanizing nature of laws that allowed racial segregation in public places and said it was "important for the citizens of Kansas to at last move forward and seek reconciliation."

Brownback signed a similar proclamation last November expressing regret for wrongs that had been done to Native Americans in Kansas who generations ago were forced off their land and mistreated.

(Editing by David Bailey and Cynthia Johnston)
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[dgs49]

So a governor who had nothing to do with a past practice...

...apologizes to a group of people (contemporary African Americans?) who were largely not born yet when the practice prevailed.

If this is the "first step," that implies that there is a next step. What would that be?

Tangent: When I was born in 1949, my family lived in a public housing complex called, "Terrace Village," in the Hill District in Pittsburgh. The Hill District was and is the largest Black community in the city (by population). Terrace Village was comprised of three or four large apartment buildings, three stories each. All of the buildings were single-race, or "segregated," if you prefer. The community center and playground and ballfield were unrestricted and all the kids played together there. We moved out when I was six, to my Grandmother's house in East Liberty, which was about equally white and black, but not segregated. The local grade schools were fully integrated.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I dunno - does it hurt anything? Doesn't mean a hill of beans to most folk I suppose but it's feel-good stuff and if someone feels good, well that's OK too

I'm still waiting for the Arabs to apologise to Africa for being slavers and the Zulus to apologise to the Pedi, Tswana and Xhosa and the Xhosa to apologise to the Khoi/San and the Dutch & British to say sorry to just about everybody (except the French of course) but I think that will be a long wait

[dgs49]

Personally, I'm big on the "reparations" thing. I think the descendants of the slave owners ought to be paid something (adjusted for inflation, of course, and with interest) for having their property rights voided and made worthless by the Federal Government. Wasn't that prohibited by the Fifth Amendment?

Maybe as a "first step," Our Beloved President can apologize to the former slave owners. Starting with the ones in North Carolina - he needs a little help there right now.

[BoSoxGal]

[rubato]

Some people understand the importance of being honest about the holocaust. They understand that lying about history guarantees it will be repeated they understand that telling the truth is the only way to have a future different from that particular past.


And some, like Dave/Mort and the Gen'l don't. The president of Iran agrees with both of you.



yrs,
rubato

[Crackpot]

Someone isn't up on their reading comprehension.

[MajGenl.Meade]

And some, like Dave/Mort and the Gen'l don't. The president of Iran agrees with both of you.
yrs,
rubato

Once, but I had to switch to margarine; he gives me acid indigestion.

[Lord Jim]

Some people understand the importance of being honest about the holocaust. They understand that lying about history guarantees it will be repeated they understand that telling the truth is the only way to have a future different from that particular past.


And some, like Dave/Mort and the Gen'l don't. The president of Iran agrees with both of you.



yrs,
rubato

Oh good Lord...



And there are folks who want to compare me to rube?

If I ever post anything as brain dead as that, please feel free to shoot me in the head....

[Lord Jim]

Okay , I wasn't going to deconstruct this because the stupidity seems so obvious, but I have to say that I am truly dazzled at they way he manages to cram so much idiocy into so few words...A genuinely impressive efficiency of language in conveying so many moronic concepts with such relative brevity....

It would probably take the average imbecile far more words to convey as much eyeball aching ignorance as rube manages to convey in just four short sentences:

Some people understand the importance of being honest about the holocaust.

So right off the bat, he equates school segregation in Kansas, (as odious as that was; I'm certainly not defending it) with the systematic murder of six million people...

That would have been more than enough stupidity for one post, but of course he doesn't stop there:

They understand that lying about history

I'm sorry, did the state legislature of Kansas pass a resolution at some point denying that segregation ever took place in the state of Kansas?

telling the truth is the only way to have a future different from that particular past.

So if the Kansas state legislature hadn't passed a resolution apologizing for past racial segregation, it would automatically re-occur?

That's the logical conclusion to be reached if one embraces rube's "reasoning" where he says, this is "the only way to have a future different from that particular past"

Okay, at this point not only are my eyeballs aching, but my toes are curling and the hair on my head is starting to hurt...

But he doesn't stop there:

The president of Iran agrees with both of you.

WTF?

Where did that come from?

What has General Meade ever said, that would inspire one to compare him to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? How does that have even the remotest relevance to the state legislature of Kansas apologizing for racial segregation?

(Which, uhh, the General said he had no problem with....)

As I said; dazzling....

So, the next time anyone cares to compare me to rubato....

I would really appreciate it if they would provide a link to where I posted so much ignorance, stupidity, and utterly absurd smearing comparisons in a single post as rube did with this one...

[rubato]

Germany has done a far better job dealing with their history than the US South has with theirs. The brilliance of the 'truth and reconciliation' solution in South Africa (widely copied elsewhere) is that it provides a mechanism for the official recording of history which is somewhat accurate and allows society to make peace with itself and provides evidence of our true natures, as opposed to those we wish we had, and it is our true natures which caused the evil.

Diminishing or making light of a truly horrific past does guarantee its repetition.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

Diminishing or making light of a truly horrific past

Where is the evidence, (he asked, knowing that none exists) that the people of Kansas were "diminishing or making light of" historic racial segregation in Kansas prior to the passage of this resolution?

[Lord Jim]

You really are completely shameless, aren't you?

[MajGenl.Meade]

The brilliance of the 'truth and reconciliation' solution in South Africa (widely copied elsewhere) is that it provides a mechanism for the official recording of history which is somewhat accurate and allows society to make peace with itself and provides evidence of our true natures

Well that's all right then... WMM has been denying her guilt since er.... ever since she was guilty

South Africa's Truth Commission has judged Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of President Mandela, to have been implicated in murders. The commission's report also says she allowed her home to be used as a place for assault and mutilation. The report said her bodyguards, nicknamed the Mandela United Football Club, were involved in "killing, torture, assaults and arson in the community."

Those who opposed Ms Madikizela-Mandela and the football club were "branded as informers and killed," said the report. "It is the finding of this commission that Ms Madikizela-Mandela had knowledge and/or participated in the activities of club members, and/or that they were authorised and/or sanctioned by her. The commission finds further that Madikizela-Mandela herself was responsible for committing such gross violations of human rights," it said.

The TRC says that where amnesty has not been sought, or has been denied, prosecution should be considered in cases where there is evidence of gross human rights violations

The ex-wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, on trial for fraud and theft, called charges against her "a pack of lies." Madikizela-Mandela and Addy Moolman, a broker described as her financial adviser, face 60 charges of fraud and 25 charges of theft involving some $120,000. The state has alleged that letters on African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) letterhead, bearing Madikizela-Mandela's signature, were used fraudulently to obtain loans from Saambou Bank for people falsely claiming to be league employees. Hailed as the "Mother of the Nation" for her role in ending apartheid, Madikizela-Mandela is very popular among black South Africans, but remains a figure of controversy.

On 14 May 1991 Winnie Nomzamo Mandela was sentenced to six years for her 'complicity' in the kidnapping and beating of four youths, one of whom, 14-year-old Stompie Moeketsi Seipei, was later found dead. The actual crime was committed by her 'thuggish' bodyguards, the 'Mandela United Football Club'. Winnie Mandela was released on bail pending an appeal. She would, eventually, only receive a fine for her role in the crime.

The heavy sentence was unexpected since Winnie Mandela was only found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap and accessory after the fact to assault. On passing sentence Mr Justice Michael Stahl Stegmann said she was an "unblushing and unprincipled liar" and that although she had not been a participant in the kidnapping and beatings, she had shown a "complete absence of compassion for the victims" When she emerged from court, Winnie Mandela told reporters that she had "been found guilty by the media and went on to thank those people who "not been influenced by the misleading reports we had to face during the past two years."

But Winnie did not quietly fade away. Despite convictions for kidnap and fraud, she remains on the political stage. Last year, at the age of 73, the ANC placed her fifth on their MP list for the general election.

[Lord Jim]

Winnie Mandela is a psychopath who ordered teen aged boys burned to death and enjoyed watching the videos of their murder....

She should have gotten the death penalty.