You can read the text of the bill, which apologizes for slavery if that wasn’t clear, here.  Not sure when or if there will be a vote.  Bills considered under a suspension of House rules are often passed by a voice vote, but I’m curious to see if this is something my Representative (Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota) will vote for.

Pomeroy is an at-large Representative, meaning he represents the entire state of North Dakota.  The state he represents wasn’t admitted into the union until 1889, or 26 years after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  Most of North Dakota’s residents are descendants of immigrants from Norway, Sweden, Germany and Russia who came to America after slavery had already been abolished.

So if Pomeroy votes in favor of this apology, who is he apologizing for?  Certainly not me.  I’m descended from Norwegians who came to America and North Dakota in 1899 and neither myself nor anyone in my family has ever owned a slave.  And I expect that most North Dakotans have a similar background.

Plus, there is nobody alive today who was a slave when it was legal in the United States.  There is also nobody alive who owned slaves legally in the United States.  The practice was banned almost a century and a half ago.

Other than a perpetuation of a victim mentality where a certain demographic of people are led to believe that the world owes them something special, what are we apologizing for?