Yesterday, Delaware Governor Jack Markell issued an apology for slavery 150 years after the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which officially ended slavery in the United States. He urged the General Assembly to complete passage of a resolution making this apology on behalf of all Delawareans.
Speaking at Bethel AME Church, Markell said:
“It’s essential that we publicly and candidly and wholly recognize the everlasting damage of those sins, damage that reverberates to this day in a country where 150 years after the establishment of slavery and decades after the official end of the Jim Crow era, being black in Delaware and being black in America means your likelihood of prosperity and success is less than if you are white.”
A front-page story in the Dec. 7 News-Journal gives details.
How WINDERFUL!
Some may say things like ” prayer /asking for forgiveness isn’t action , so let’s see what he DOSE about it”, or “talk is cheap”, or “when things change, THEN I can forgive”.
But God is not like the world. Jesus’s turned the world upside down with promoting an attitude of forgiveness twards those who may never change. Forgiveness is not the end of making things right but the necesary beginning, even when asking forgiveness is not accepted. The one asking forgiveness is now released from anger, guilt, resentment and can think and act in love, and so the outer positive action begins.
This was a huge and humble action. I am proud of our Governor’s courageous action!