National Apology Day

There is a move afoot to have the state of Georgia, following the lead of some other Southern states, through its representatives, apologize for its role in slavery.

Well, that’s just fine with me. As far as I know, no one in my family ever owned slaves, although my great-great-grandfather, Alexander Epps, served with the 63rd Infantry, Army of Tennessee, for the Confederate States of America.

Like many of the other 90 per cent of Southerners who never owned slaves, he signed up out of a sense of duty to repel an invading army and defend his family and a little plot of dirt in Hawkins County.

Enlisting as a private, he was captured at the battle of Bean Station and spent time as a prisoner of war at a prison camp in Kentucky. Following the war, he returned home and resumed his life as a farmer eking out an existence in a place called Poor Valley. I don’t think he ever apologized for slavery since he was unaffected on a personal level by that evil institution.

I have always been taught that a person is responsible for his own actions and not the actions of others. I don’t hold people of German descent responsible for the crimes of the Nazi regime, unless, of course, they themselves were Nazis.

There are a number of people in our community of Japanese descent. Should they apologize for Pearl Harbor? I think not. Still, if people want to apologize for something with which they had nothing to do, who am I to stand in their way?

But if we are going to apologize, why limit the apology to one action or to one group? I propose, therefore, a National Apology Day to be held on April 9, 2008.

April 9, of course, is the day in 1865 that Robert E. Lee surrendered his forces to Ulysses S. Grant to bring the War Between the States to, in effect, a conclusion. So, on the 143rd anniversary of the surrender at Appomattox, everyone in the United States could stand up at a designated hour and shout, “I’m sorry!” The apology would include, but not be limited to, a statement of sorrow for slavery that somebody, somewhere was responsible for.

The apology would also be directed to those groups that have experienced discrimination by somebody at sometime somewhere in this land.

The apology would include expressions of regret to the Irish, Italians, Germans, Mexicans, Poles, Russians, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Scots, French, Eastern Europeans, Africans, Puerto Ricans, Jamaicans, Cubans, Haitians, assorted South Americans, Native Americans — and speaking of Native Americans: I want an apology, too.

Family rumor is that my grandmother was half Cherokee. If that’s true, then I am one-eighth Native American and, as far as I know, no one has ever apologized to me for the “Trail of Tears” or for white Europeans stealing the pristine lands of my ancestors which includes part of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee.

As long as we are apologizing for things that long-dead people have done, I want my piece of the pie too!

It’s not just ethnic groups that have suffered at the hands of somebody. Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, Wiccans, atheists, Yankees, used car salesmen, politicians, television evangelists, and others, have experienced discrimination aimed at them by someone.

Still, a National Apology Day would solve all that unresolved sin committed by somebody somewhere at sometime in our nation’s history.

But, in order for it to work, National Apology Day would need to be followed by National Forgiveness Day.

I propose that day be set at May 21, which is Victoria Day in Canada, I have no idea what Victoria Day is but the Canadians seem to get along with almost everybody so that day is as good as any other.

So, on the 21st day of May everyone in the United States could stand up at a designated hour and shout, “I forgive you!” Then, please, could we just get on with life?