Florida legislators formally apologize for past misdeeds
Source: Associated Press
Florida legislators formally apologize for past misdeeds
Brendan Farrington, Associated Press Updated 4:21 pm, Tuesday, April 18, 2017
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — It's taken decades, but Florida is now apologizing for two of the darker misdeeds of its past.
The Florida House unanimously passed two resolutions Tuesday. The first acknowledged decades of abuse at a Florida reform school and the second apologized to the families of four young black men known as the "Groveland Four." They were accused of raping a white girl 68 years ago in what's now seen as a case of racial injustice.
"We stand here in solidarity saying, 'We're sorry,' and we apologize for the wrongs that happened to you," Democratic Rep. Tracie Davissaid as lawmakers stood and looked up at several men in the House gallery who were abused at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in the 1950s and 1960s.
. . .
In the case of the Groveland Four, a white 17-year-old accused the men of rape. A posse of about 1,000 men was formed to hunt down Ernest Thomas, who was killed in a hail of gunfire when he was found sleeping under a tree. At the same time, white residents formed a mob and went to a black neighborhood and burned houses and fired guns into homes in a disturbance that took days to quell.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Florida-is-apologizing-for-misdeeds-in-its-past-11081331.php
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