If you are white, and the SWJs can get you to the point of apologizing for your race, you are in trouble. You have been convinced to accepting a form of racism against yourself. (Exceptions noted below.)
Bernie Sanders, in the 2016 presidential race, has called for the country to apologize for slavery.
“One courageous man” has walked into classrooms during Black History Month getting students to apologize for slavery.
Karen Fleshman, who calls herself a “race educator”, has written an apology on behalf of her white ancestors as well as white people today.
However, there is no moral benefit to apologizing for things you did not do, and not only that, it’s dishonest. Let’s say, for example, that someone has been robbed. We can say “I’m sorry you were robbed”. This conveys feeling sad that something bad has happened. This can be honest.
However, if someone has been robbed, and then we say “I apologize for the robbery”, this simply is not honest, unless we are the actual robbers.
To hold someone responsible for the sins of others—even if those sins were committed by a relative—is reprehensible. And most white people in the U.S. today do not even have distant ancestors who owned slaves. For most American whites, the only connection to a slave-owner is skin color.
So for white people today to apologize for slavery is dishonest, and without integrity, with two exceptions:
There is something called “duress”. Duress refers to a situation in which someone does something because they are coerced, through violence, threat, or pressure. Legally, if someone signs a contract under duress, they are not bound to the conditions of the contract.
A man named Chikwanha E. Nyashanu was arrested for holding a gun on a white man, demanding that he apologize “for all the things white people did to black people”. This is an example of duress. The white man did indeed apologize profusely, and even though it isn’t honest to apologize for things that others have done, this can be excused because it was done under duress.
There are other forms of duress that are less extreme, but still compelling. So, if for example a grade depends on you apologizing for your race, in this case, it is excusable to apologize even if you don’t believe in it. Morally, you cannot be held accountable for this apology, because it was made under duress.
In addition, if you are placed in a situation of verbal bullying, e.g. if it is implied or stated outright that those white people who do not apologize for their race are bigots, then this too is duress.
It may work for you to point out this duress. For example, if you are writing a paper in which you are required to agree with SJW principles, it may be possible for you to attach note of the duress to the paper without being punished for it.
For example, “Note: The structure of this assignment requires students to accept certain assumptions about privilege. Because these assumptions are required to successfully complete the assignment and thus get a decent grade, this essay is written with these assumptions. However, these assumptions are made under duress, and may or may not reflect the sincere views of the author.” (Change up the wording here so that you don’t get in trouble for plagiarism. Or you have permission to copy it and give credit to the source.)
Before writing something like this on an assignment, check with your advisor or another school authority to find out if you can be punished for making such a statement.
There is another exception to the general rule that it is not honest to apologize for what you have not done. One time, I was talking with a lady who was in great distress. She was thinking about a situation in which she believed she had been wronged by an individual in her life. (To this day, I do not know what happened that caused her distress.)
She said to me, “If you will just stand in for that person, and tell me you are sorry, then I’ll be able to let it go and move on.” So, I figured I had nothing to lose here. I said, as convincingly as I could, “I am so, so sorry for what I did to you, and I hope from the bottom of my heart that you can please forgive me.”
Then the lady burst into sobs and gave me a big hug, saying, “Oh, thank you so much, I feel so much better now.” In a short time, she had a big smile on her face.
Now, in this situation, she and I both knew that I was not the person who she believed had wronged her. However, through my playing the role of the harmful person, and apologizing, she could let go of her hurt feeling.
This is something that a white person could agree to do, with integrity, if asked to apologize for slavery. If I can apologize on behalf of someone else when I have no clue what the harmful behavior was, as in the example above, then I can apologize on behalf of anyone—so long as it is clear to all participants that it is a role-play, and not a genuine assumption of guilt, shame, or responsibility for the problem. It is possible to play the role of anyone, no matter how despicable, without it affecting our basic sense of self. The important thing is to step fully out of the role at the end. If you are not sure you could do that, it’s better not to step into the role in the first place.
Note: I advise that this type of role-playing is only done with a skilled, qualified facilitator. Role-playing for therapeutic purposes can, for example, be done in the context of psychodrama, or other transformational modalities.
In addition, I am not claiming that role-playing an apology would in fact be effective in resolving emotions related to slavery, only that it might be, and that it could be done with integrity.
However, the SJWs’ agenda is to make you actually feel guilty and apologize for your race. This leads them directly to their end-game, which has a lot to do with your wallet. Click the link below on the right to learn where all this is headed….