Lynching apology is a small but needed step

Maybe it will be easier to swallow if I also apologize.

Maybe that will help beat back the uneasiness and anger I’ve heard in the wake of the U.S. Senate’s decision to issue an apology for refusing to implement anti-lynching legislation. That refusal provided fuel during a period that saw almost 5,000 people tortured and killed in a variety of ways as families celebrated around dangling, lifeless bodies.

If that will help, I will apologize for not being thankful for the sacrifices of white Americans who worked the Underground Railroad and to those who were terrorized because they spread equality.

I apologize for not recognizing that each wave of the Confederate flag isn’t about a thirst for racial superiority.

I apologize to those who’ve been brought down by guilt and have been labeled a bigot for expressing an honest opinion.

I apologize to all those black Americans who had to endure a sort of hell on Earth, to all those who I was once too ashamed to avow because I was too cowardly to tell their stories – to help ease their pain – because I didn’t want to add to other people’s guilt.

I apologize to all those to whom I callously tried to dictate how or how long they should mourn past wrongs for which there’s been little public repentance.

I apologize to those with lingering wounds inflicted during Jim Crow that haven’t healed, haven’t had a fair airing, haven’t received justice.

I apologize because I’m willing to do whatever necessary to get us to a better place.

I apologize to the families of slain civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. Because the man who organized their murder spent his healthy years free and only Tuesday was convicted of manslaughter and will enter prison as an unhealthy 80-year-old near death. Because the seven men who murdered you served no longer than six years each.

But I’m at a loss as to why an apology can be seen as a step backward. I’m at a loss as to why any U.S. senator – or U.S. citizen – would consider it a slap in the face.

Do they not care that a century’s worth of inaction sanctioned innocent death and a wildfire of domestic terrorism? Do they not understand that such an apology is evidence of a country taking personal responsibility for failing to live up to its stated ideals?

An apology alone can’t right past wrongs. But it is an admission that there’s justified pain. And that’s a start.