This week in stupid

So the state of Virginia is apologizing for slavery. Various headlines surrounding the story include: NAACP urges Ga. to follow Virginia's lead, apologize for slavery, Virginia's regret is a step in the right direction, and I'm proud of Virginia's 'regret' over slavery.

Favorite line: "The resolution does not carry the weight of law..." How would that work? Would people (presumably just the whites) be fined if they did not personally regret their state's role in slavery? Would they have to perform community service? Maybe they would have to participate in a "Spend the day as a slave" program, wherein blacks would have white people wash their underwear? And what about people whose families moved into the state after slavery was abolished? Would the law mandate genealogical searches on every (white) resident to find out which ones need to be most regretful? Descendants of the families that owned slaves would be required to express the most regret, while those whose families stood idly by would have to express only regret for not intervening, and for families that weren't there at the time, a special card would be issued absolving them of the need to express regret.

Am I the only person who finds it difficult to believe that a political entity can have human emotions? Never mind the fact that nobody is alive today who owned slaves. That fact seems lost on people who are so caught up in their anger and emotion over slavery, decades after it ceased, that they can't seem to look to the future. Why are they so obsessed with the past?

Now, I'm not a big fan of "forgive and forget" - especially the "forget" part. But why are people being held responsible for actions that they had no part in, since they weren't even born yet??? If those folks who fuss and moan over slavery reparations put half of their effort into improving the present and future (and spent the other half baking cookies or drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa), society would soon see radical improvements in racial equality.

Can I get an "Amen"?