Connecticut has jumped on the so-sorry-slaves bandwagon. The state joins Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, New Jersey, Florida and Maryland in the need to apologize for economic and human exploitation. Connecticut Senator Toni Harp feels the apology is a step forward in elevating American consciousness, but she advises: there will be no reparations. Interpretation: don't get crazy, black folks. Nobody's getting one single dime. Connecticut doesn't care if your ancestors spent every single moment of their lives plowing fields, nursing infants, being overexposed to sun, heat and cold…for free. Let me say it one more time: FO' FREE!
I certainly appreciate the state's need to shake free the slavery guilt, but the apologies are starting to get tiresome. Okay, I get it. You're sorry. The postman's sorry. The lady who feeds bread to the pigeons in Central Park is sorry. Everybody's sorry. However, a country like this, a country that prospered from centuries of slave labor, needs to 86 the apologies and give folks a big fat check. Only then will the apologies have any weight. Until then, it's all very nice. You know, like a gift basket of fruit during the holiday.
Keith Josef Adkins is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and social commentator.