Wow

This guy could write a book on how to offend people:

Slavery Remarks Spark Outrage

(AP) A Virginia state legislator is sparking outrage over remarks made arguing against a proposed apology by the state to the descendants of slaves.

Republican delegate Frank D. Hargrove, in comments published Tuesday in The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Va., said slavery ended nearly 140 years ago with the Civil War and added: "I personally think that our black citizens should get over it."

The newspaper also quoted the 79-year-old lawmaker as saying: "Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ?"

Responding to his critics Tuesday, Hargrove, who is 79, told a delegate whose Jewish ancestors immigrated from Nazi-occupied Poland that the delegate's skin is "a little too thin."

Black House of Delegates members swiftly denounced the comments Hargrove made on the holiday commemorating the life and mission of civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"When somebody tells me I should just get over slavery, I can only express my emotion by projecting that I am appalled, absolutely appalled," said Delegate Dwight C. Jones, head of the Legislative Black Caucus.

Delegate David L. Englin, a Democrat, seated next to Hargrove, spoke passionately about his grandparents leaving Poland "where they were driven from their homes by people who believed that as Jews, we killed Christ."

This guy is arguing against apologizing for slavery! Is this seriously something a politician wants to be known for being against?

Slavery is probably the most horrendous and embarrassing part of our country's history, and that is saying a lot considering what we did to the Native Americans throughtout our history and to Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Apologizing is the least Virginia or any state could do, and it is probably the easiest to do. How can anyone have a problem with that?

Perhaps Hargrove feels that since he did not personally enslave anyone he does not want to apologize for slavery, but no one is suggesting that he apologize for it. They are suggesting that Virginia, an entity which did enslave people in its past, issue an apology for slavery, not Hargrove, not the people of Virginia, but Virginia itself.

As for his really bad analogy about making Jews "apologize for killing Christ," that it is just wrong on so many levels that I am not sure where to begin. It really is so offensive, ridiculous, and wrong that it does not deserve a response, but the fact that there are people out there that still believe in such a myth signifies that we still have a problem that needs to be addressed.

I am not going to be able to address that huge problem in a single post, but let me try to do a quick debunk: A relatively small group of evil and/or ignorant people killed Christ, and they were a mix of ethnicities and creeds. Saying the Jews should "apologize for killing Christ" is the unfair practice of guilt by association, and it would be like saying that, while Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were responsible for the Oklahoma City Bombing, everyone with the last name "Nichols" should apologize for it.

The idea is absurd, and, again, I should not have to point all this out, but everytime someone brings it up we should immediately smack it back down.