Georgetown University Plans Steps to Atone for Slave Past

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: New York Times

Nearly two centuries after Georgetown University profited from the sale of 272 slaves, it will embark on a series of steps to atone for the past, including awarding preferential status in the admissions process to descendants of the enslaved, officials said on Wednesday.

Georgetown’s president, John J. DeGioia, who will discuss the measures in a speech on Thursday afternoon, also plans to offer a formal apology, create an institute for the study of slavery and erect a public memorial to the slaves whose labor benefited the institution, including those who were sold in 1838 to help keep the university afloat.

<...>

So far, Mr. DeGioia’s plan does not include a provision for offering scholarships to descendants, a possibility that was raised by a university committee whose recommendations were released on Thursday morning. The committee, however, stopped short of calling on the university to provide such financial assistance, as well as admissions preference.

Mr. DeGioa’s decision to offer an advantage in admissions to descendants, similar to that offered to the children and grandchildren of alumni, may be unprecedented.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/us/slaves-georgetown-university.html

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Don't even know what to say except it will be interesting to see if any are able to trace themselves back to the original group who they profited from. There are several institutions that were publicly associated with slavery including Brown.

[Blue_Tires]

1. kick

[bucolic_frolic]

2. I just don't know

So much time has passed. 272 years? 13 generations. How do you make
amends after so much time? Are they adding up all the detriment to each
generation, discounting it to present value, and giving it to one or two
family members now? Why does this generation deserve it more than
the next one or the previous one? What if some of those generations
or members of such generations became very successful before now, would
their current descendents still deserve reparations?

I mean the gesture is noble, the interwoven fabric of society supportive.
Maybe this just needs to be explained. What about those who don't go to
college, or aren't smart enough, or are 55 years old and in poverty? Where
is the help for them for this historic act that oppressed their ancestors?

I'd rather see some kind of community benefit fund or bank that helps
descendents. This is too specific, omits too many, is not enduring.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. There's always been a whole lotta

runnin' out the clock when it comes to slavery. Every year the issue is dodged is another year that dims the light. Every congressional session for almost 30 years, John Conyers introduces H.R. 40, and each time it gets remanded and ignored.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. And that's just a proposal to study the issue

let alone actually do anything

And while we're at it, how about child labor in coal mines,
and the meager existence that many nationalities suffered
under slave wage conditions that provided them no opportunity
to escape? Those folks were not property in the slave sense, they
could leave politically, but that was it.

BumDaRushShow I sure seem to comment on many of your posts!

[BumRushDaShow]

5. It's sad

I guarantee that right now, there is forced child labor going on in corporate farm fields. There's a whole lot of reconciliation that needs to happen for the wrongs of the last couple centuries.

And it's good to have the discussion! I don't get chance to post as much as I'd like but I try when I can!