Friday, August 1, 2008

House Apologizes For Slavery; Rappers React


via: AHH

For Russell Simmons, who actively campaigned for reparations for African-American’s, the resolution is a step in the right direction.

“It’s just another statement that America is changing,” Simmons told AllHipHop.com. “It has changed enough to accept the fact that it is impossible to fully heal without acknowledging the past.”

The resolution also explains that Africans under the slave trade “were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage."
The resolution ends with a formal apology, stating the House “apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people of United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow.”

Outspoken Atlanta rapper Killer Mike proposed his own interesting alternative to monetary reparations for slavery.

“When they start talking about reparations, let's not make it about the money,” outspoken rapper Killer Mike told AllHipHop.com. “Let's make it education based. I think every Black person in America should be able to go to college for free. I think they should have eight years to go after their Bachelor's, Master's, whatever they can get in those 8 years. And the reason why I say 8 is that some of those people are gonna be single parents [for example], and so I think they should have twice the amount of time the average kid in college takes. And for those people that's too old or already got a degree, they should get a tax break for a certain amount of years.”

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