State Rep. Al Williams is not giving up on his goal for Georgia to issue an official apology for slavery.
Just before the 2007 legislative session ended April 20, the Midway resident officially filed a resolution asking the House of Representatives to express “profound regret” for the state’s role in slavery.
Williams, chairman of Georgia’s Black Legislative Caucus, said he planned to introduce the legislation earlier in the session, but “competing issues” and “conflicts” got in the way. He will work to build support for the apology during the summer and fall and expects a vote during the 2008 session.
“Once people get a chance to read it, I think it’ll come to fruition,” Williams said about the likelihood of the resolution passing next year.
Although the idea of a slavery apology slowly gained support throughout the 2007 session from key state lawmakers, including Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) and Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), many state leaders opposed the measure.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said he was “not certain government ought to be apologizing,” while Governor Sonny Perdue questioned the authenticity of an apology from those currently in office.
“Repentance comes from the heart,” Perdue said in February following a request from the Georgia National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that he endorse the state expressing remorse. “I’m not sure about public apologies on behalf of other people as far as motivation for them.”
About the resolution
So what’s included in Williams’ resolution?
One section of the four-page document states: “...when Congress banned the African slave trade in 1808, Georgia’s slave population did not decline. Instead, the number of slaves imported from the Chesapeake’s stagnant plantation economy as well as the number of children born to Georgia slave mothers continued to outpace the number of slaves who died or were transported from Georgia...by the end of the antebellum era Georgia had more slaves and slaveholders than any state in the Lower South and was second only to Virginia in the South as a whole.”
Just before the 2007 legislative session ended April 20, the Midway resident officially filed a resolution asking the House of Representatives to express “profound regret” for the state’s role in slavery.
Williams, chairman of Georgia’s Black Legislative Caucus, said he planned to introduce the legislation earlier in the session, but “competing issues” and “conflicts” got in the way. He will work to build support for the apology during the summer and fall and expects a vote during the 2008 session.
“Once people get a chance to read it, I think it’ll come to fruition,” Williams said about the likelihood of the resolution passing next year.
Although the idea of a slavery apology slowly gained support throughout the 2007 session from key state lawmakers, including Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) and Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), many state leaders opposed the measure.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said he was “not certain government ought to be apologizing,” while Governor Sonny Perdue questioned the authenticity of an apology from those currently in office.
“Repentance comes from the heart,” Perdue said in February following a request from the Georgia National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that he endorse the state expressing remorse. “I’m not sure about public apologies on behalf of other people as far as motivation for them.”
About the resolution
So what’s included in Williams’ resolution?
One section of the four-page document states: “...when Congress banned the African slave trade in 1808, Georgia’s slave population did not decline. Instead, the number of slaves imported from the Chesapeake’s stagnant plantation economy as well as the number of children born to Georgia slave mothers continued to outpace the number of slaves who died or were transported from Georgia...by the end of the antebellum era Georgia had more slaves and slaveholders than any state in the Lower South and was second only to Virginia in the South as a whole.”