Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Two headlines that intrigued me this morning

During my internet news read this morning, I found a couple of headlines that interested me. By the way, I do not get all of my news from that site. It is one of many I read daily.

First is this one from New Hampshire (my old stomping grounds).
Dixville Notch, New Hampshire has cast the first votes in the New Hampshire Primary. McCain and Obama win the town. Hillary gets 0
It is good that Hillary got no votes. Bad that Obama got 7. McCain got 4.

The State of New Jersey has apologized for slavery. Why?
New Jersey apologizes for slavery, Bon Jovi

Here is the full article.
The Assembly and the Senate 29-2 both voted overwhelmingly to approve the resolution, which expresses the Legislature's opinion without requiring action by the governor.

"This resolution does nothing more than say New Jersey is sorry about its shameful past," said Assemblyman William Payne, a Democrat who sponsored the measure.

The resolution offers an apology "for the wrongs inflicted by slavery and its aftereffects in the United States of America."

It states that in New Jersey, "the vestiges of slavery are ever before African-American citizens, from the overt racism of hate groups to the subtle racism encountered when requesting health care, transacting business, buying a home, seeking quality public education and college admission, and enduring pretextual traffic stops and other indignities."

Legislators in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia have issued formal apologies for slavery.

According to the resolution, New Jersey had one of the largest slave populations in the Northern colonies and was the last state in the Northeast to formally abolish slavery, not doing so until 1846.


I dealt with this very issue on my talk show last year. Feel free to listen.

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