Slavery: Trying to atone, but why now?

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Slavery: Trying to atone, but why now?
Politics, history help explain groundswell of apology for ‘peculiar institution’
ANALYSIS
The Associated Press
Updated: 7:11 a.m. MT March 9, 2007
America is once again struggling to atone for slavery and its aftermath.

In a nation with an unquenchable need to analyze its racial past, there is now a fresh flow of contrition from public officials for the many wrongs of U.S. history.

Inspired by a resolution apologizing for slavery that Virginia legislators passed last month, black lawmakers in Georgia said Thursday they plan to introduce a similar measure there. Maryland and Missouri also are discussing an apology. And so far, a white Memphis congressman has gathered 36 co-sponsors for a bill that, if passed, would bring an apology to the federal level.

The FBI announced last week it is actively reinvestigating about a dozen cases of blacks slain in the 1950s and '60s as possible civil rights violations. As many as 100 more cases are being considered for similar treatment....

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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17522875/from/ET/

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