Great idea...there should be an apology for slavery and reparations paid to slaves. So let's get every single living person in Georgia who has owned a slave, and make them apologize and pay reparations to every single living person who was a slave in Georgia. Once that is done, let's all send a letter to State Sen. Barry Loudermilk to tell him to stop wasting the money we pay him for his salary on utterly moronic resolutions and start working on the important business fo the state.

I think it's the right thing to do. Slavery has a centuries-long legacy, one that still affects America today.

If my great-great-grandmother were kidnapped from her home and enslaved, and generations of her children were subsequently enslaved, it would mean a lot to me if the descendants of her kidnappers apologized to me, instead of telling me to get over it. I'm sure we've all apologized for family members at one time or another; so why not now?

While we're at it why don't we apologize to the Creek and Cherokee indigenous people for stealing their land.

Slavery might be mostly gone in the US, but the effects of past institutional slavery are still with us. Acknowledging the mistakes of our ancestors makes it easier to correct them.

That is ridiculous and such a waste of time and money! Why should we be worrying about something that happened 150 years ago and not worrying about the present state of this economy and country!? Yes, slavery was very wrong but how can a piece of paper honestly make up for it? Until we can resurrect the dead and make the slave owners apologize, what would be the purpose?! Our government needs to start working on things that will help this country and not themselves!

I guess I just don't understand the point of this. What does an apology do for anyone now? If we're going to apologize for slavery then shouldn't we also apologize to the Native American tribes that had land stolen, Japanese people who were in internment camps, Jews who the US military didn't free fast enough, Chinese people who have too much pollution, Hatians who are still living in poor conditions, and Cubans who live under communist rule? I mean, we could spend all day and all night apologizing for things but let's be honest: the government has more pressing issues like housing foreclosures, the Lanier water dispute and public safety that affect people who are living in Georgia right now. I just don't see how this is a big priority.

Sadly, I was correct in predicting the responses to this issue would break down largely along racial lines.

The slavery question was settled generations ago - when it happened, it was wrong. People who participated were wrong, although they weren't breaking laws, so laws were passed and the practice was stopped. Move on and quit wasting our time and money!

On the other hand, we are all enslaved to our ever-increasing US debt, a plague of laziness brought to us through entitlements that are insured with Obama-bucks, widespread hatred and violence that occurs in the absence of God's absolute moral truth and love, and a continual total lack of leadership from the highest to the lowest ranks of our government.

Our country has much greater apologies to make, don't you think? Who's going to apologize to my generations when our country completes the transition to socialism?

Where do you think we'll be in 20 years if we're disarmed?

@David Brown, how can you tell what race these commenters are? Are you assuming that because many of them use proper grammar and spelling then the writer must be white? I think you're assuming an awful lot here, sir.

@David- people were also pressed into service when they couldn't repay their debts, as part of debtor's prison. What if we had that today? Would you consider it slavery or responsibility?

I would appreciate an acknowledgement of slavery.

Should paintings & historical artifacts from that era be reworked / redone / repainted so as to not reflect the truth about it all - it's history - it can't be changed - it doesn't need to be relived - it was also A LONG TIME AGO - spend time, energy, efforts in making a better future - let history be just that!!!!!!!!!

David, there was also debtor's prison and servitude to repay debts in the case of default. If i'm not mistaken debts were forgiven every 7 years, but many would elect to remain a servant of the house through an awl through the ear? Also, people could endenture themselves so they and their families could eat. What if we returned to those programs instead of entitlements? Would you consider this responsibility or slavery?

I am Cherokee and that was my land...! You tortured and murdered my people on the Trail of Tears.....yet I do not hear anyone offering reparation for that massacre.....Senator Loudermilk speaks with forked tongue for he says things that are politically correct with his mouth, but his heart is far from it. He is only doing this to bolster his political career. Many of the generations that you say were relatives to slaves back then are now, willing, slaves to the government through welfare.....so not much has changed. I think it is a ridiculous idea. Whether my ancestors owned slaves or not I do not know or care, but I damn sure do not have any responsibility to apologize for it.

From now on, I'm going to indicate 'American' as my race... And make no apologies for it...

Anyone who believes slavery does not have an impact on our lives today is being honest. An advantage was given to whites and especially white males - you have to agreement with that fact. And for the most part that advantage still exists today. In order to begin to eradicate slavery and the impact it has on our lives, we are going to have to be more intentional about interacting with people of a different race and if we have families with small children, we have to be intentional about addressing it within our families everyday (make sure your child has playmates and friends of other races - visit churches and other places where your race is not in the majority - pay attention to what's being done and said around you daily and speak up and/or get involved and make a difference when a different race is not included, etc, etc). For most people we make decisions based on a persons race from the moment we see them (in stores, shops, malls, ball games, church, school, work - everywhere). You may not be able to change the world, but change the way you say and do things when it comes to race. Otherwise, the negative impact of slavery will remain with us. Finally, closure has a place in our lives - if you don't believe that ask a child who was given up for adoption who seeks answers all theirs lives - ask a female who was raped or someone who had a loved one murdered - we need closure in our lives.

I doubt the "waste of time" factor. They're not doing much good, anyway. This resolution could be somewhat healing and serve a good purpose. Maybe we should all apologize for sins against humanity, as every race and nationality is guilty of some
act of injustice.

Terrie I don't disagree;however, color blind is not the way to go - I agree that no one is better off or worse because of their race or nationality, but there are differences, so as long as we can recognize there are differences, but that these differences do not equate to being better or worse I am with you. My suggestion for interaction is merely to address one of the basic issues and that is if we stay among our "own" it becomes harder to accept that we are essentially all the same, but that there are differences and one way to appreciate that is to interact more (my question would be why would we stay among our "own" and never associate with "others" and I am afraid it has a lot to do with the basic belief that we are "different" and some are better or worse than others - and yes that happens within our own groups, but in this conversation we are talking about different races)...So basically I agree and even commend you - I just made a suggestion of things we can do to help.

I feel remorse for nothing since I was not around at the time. I do not apologize for something someone else did. Come on Barry, quit wasting time on the past and get on with the future where you can do something constructive. I guess I should apologize for you for even suggesting such a stupid proposal.
Don Griffin

Sen. Barry Loudermilk the jokes on you! On June 30, 2008 the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for the very same thing you want to do. Ahhhh ... a day late, ehh? Oh, one more thing, don't you check this type of thing before you "speak out" or maybe you don't have anything to do and you have to think up items to keep you busy. This is somehthing a 4th grader leans in history class.

And, slavery is still going on today. The Somali pirates are taking slaves all the time. Like The Secretary of State said yesterday, "The Ambassador and the seals are dead, so what's the point?"

I am a 10th generation Georgian, who was born in Georgia, and have lived in Georgia all my life. My heritage began with people who were sharecroppers who worked for themselves, by themselves, and scrimped and saved until they could buy a farm of their own to provide for themselves and their offspring. Our way-back heritage is a little cloudy on my mother's side and on my daddy's side, and can be traced only to a point many generations ago in some cases. I am very proud of my roots. Neither I nor my ancestors owned slaves. I do not feel I personally owe anyone an apology for there having been slave holders in Georgia. What I do owe my fellow human is respect and Christian love.

Did anyone actually read the resolution? I see nothing in its language that anyone could possibly object to. It is merely an official acknowledgment, long overdue, that slavery was wrong. It does not heap personal responsibility for slavery on the heads of the living. It merely acknowledges slavery's injustice and expresses remorse that it happened.

David we are together on this one. History forgotten is history repeated. I have no problem with recognizing our faults as a nation and correcting them and/or acknowledging them. But to ignore is injurious.

I don't need an apology. Just send me a check for backpay to cover all of the free labor my ancestors performed, as well as punitive damages for destroying our family unit and history.

Hey, folks. I've deleted a few comments at the end here, some for getting a bit too personal and some because they were in direct response to the others and wouldn't make sense out of context. I realize this is a charged topic, but I'm just issuing a friendly reminder to abide by the terms of service. Thanks!

I'm not sure how I feel... An apology is fine, but a lot of these Sorry for Slavery resolutions are kind of like breaking a man's legs then saying you're sorry while tossing him a cane and telling him to figure out how to walk again on his own... I would rather see Georgia make a resolution to ensure that it will continue to aid its black citizens in regaining lost ground over 200 years of oppression has taken from its people. I think great achievements have been reached in the wake of the civil rights movement although statistics tell me we're far from out of the woods just yet.

I don't even know how to touch the Cherokee thing... In some weird ways, I feel like trying to make up for chattel slavery is easier than making up for the eviction from sacred/ancestral grounds, genocide, destruction of culture, broken treaties, dismantled sovereignty of a nation AND slavery (I hope no one forgot that native peoples were also sold to the West Indies!) so... Yeah... I think if I hopped in a time machine to visit my great-great-great-something grandma and asked her if she was cool with the other majority of my heritage she would end me. Flat out end me.

Elaine- There is still time, you could always end yourself.

Here is my final warning - either we honestly handle this issue now, or it will be worse in a few years - this country is not far from becoming a minority-majority country and when that happens God help us, because if this issue has not been resolved, it will be time for "what goes around comes around"

let's start by removing race from applications (what do we need to know a person's race?)...let's acknowledge that our communities, cities, schools, churches, etc are made up of people based primarily on race - don't participate in that anymore and insist on change....let's remove the primary elections because it's rooted in race - if a primary election is held, let the top 2 (or everyone over 30%) run in the general election....stop identify people by their race especially when you are talking to your kids...stop racism when its in your presence...redraw all school districts, all county commission districts, all state rep and senate districts and all congressional district and disregard race in all of them....life is not perfect; therefore, we have to acknowledge that in life a lot of times it has to be life a track event - the starting blocks need to be staggered...

thank you...and absolutely! what is always the 1st step? acknowledgement - admitting there is/was a problem - until that's done, there is nothing to resolve/solve - we are all who we are today and where we are in life based on actions/events/decisions made in the past - everyone - a child born via a rape is still a child; however, the issues involved with conception last a lifetime and are dealt with everyday - saying to the woman who was raped that you had nothing to do with it does not help....housing project built years ago are negatively impacting our lives today - small town justice is still negatively impacting our lives today - I learned as a child growing up that you will reap what you sow (what goes around comes around) - so we can ignore doing the right thing if we want, but sooner or later the truth will be revealed and it will come upon us

Greg- Those really are great ideas. To answer the original question though:"is it time for Georgia to acknowledge slavery" I say sure, if it would help. The bigger issue is that slavery was an American problem. It's time for the Federal Government to acknowledge it.
Of course, having Obama apologize for slavery may seem a bit ironic, but none of his immediate relatives were ever affected by slavery in America so I think it would be OK (Kenyan father, White mother)
The good news is that you would be hard pressed to find any American these days that thinks slavery is OK.
If I were Black, I think I would consider myself lucky to have ended up in the US and honor my descendents through whose suffering I am here. Being in Africa these days would be no picnic.
In 2010, 68% of the world's AIDS cases where in Sub-Saharan Africa. That's 22.9 million people with Aids with 1.8 million of them dying that year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_HIV/AIDS
The average income in Sub-Saharan Africa last year was a grand total of $470. or $1.28 per day.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20179737~pagePK:34370~piPK:42768~theSitePK:4607,00.html
Black Americans have come a LONG way, down a hard road, and have a lot to be proud of.