Editorial

An abhorrent part of Florida and American history has never been the subject of a formal apology from the Sunshine State, but an effort is underway in the Legislature to change that and it’s one that deserves the support of all Floridians—especially Florida Baptists.

Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, has been working since last year with Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, to draft a resolution formally apologizing for Florida’s role in slavery, the St. Petersburg Times reported earlier this month.

The resolution, according to the Times, is inspired by the 2007 film, Amazing Grace, which tells the story of William Wilberforce’s long and ultimately successful campaign to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain. The powerful film, available in DVD, was originally released to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Parliament’s passage of Wilberforce’s bill. The Florida Legislature should emulate the statesmanship of Wilberforce and pass this session a resolution of apology for Florida’s role in slavery.

(To learn more about Amazing Grace, see my Feb. 15, 2007, editorial, “Amazing Grace: A film Christians should see.”)

The St. Petersburg Times summarizes the history of slavery in Florida:

“Slavery in Florida dates back to the late 1500s, when the Spanish used slaves to build forts. Centuries later, slave use moved to the state’s agriculture economy.

“The British imported slaves to Florida between 1763 and 1783, and the coastline was a popular dock for ships carrying slaves for other states.

“The practice grew after Florida became a U.S. territory in the early 1800s and plantation owners from Virginia, the Carolinas and other Southern states moved their operations—and their slaves—to Florida’s cheaper land, primarily in the Panhandle.

“By 1860, there were nearly 62,000 slaves—44 percent of the state population.”

Apologizing for slavery is something which Southern Baptists know only too well.

As a denomination, we finally apologized for slavery, which tragically contributed to our founding, during the 150th anniversary annual meeting in 1995 in Atlanta in the form of a resolution, acknowledging our denominational forebearers’ practice and defense of slavery and our denomination’s silence concerning racism.

The resolution denounced racism in every form as “deplorable sin” and expressed “lament and repudiate historic acts of evil such as slavery from which we continue to reap a bitter harvest.”

Southern Baptists resolved that “we apologize to all African-Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime; and we genuinely repent of racism of which we have been guilty, whether consciously (Psalm 19:13) or unconsciously (Leviticus 4:27).”

The resolution requested forgiveness from “our African-American brothers and sisters, acknowledging that our own healing is at stake” and “commit ourselves to be doers of the Word (James 1:22) by pursuing racial reconciliation in all our relationships, especially with our brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 2:6), to the end that our light would so shine before others, that they may see (our) good works and glorify (our) Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).”

In 2003, President George W. Bush visited Goree Island, Senegal, a former slave port, and made the following eloquent statement about the evil of slavery and its continuing relevance:

“At this place, liberty and life were stolen and sold. Human Beings were delivered and sorted, and weighed, and branded with the marks of commercial enterprises, and loaded as cargo on a voyage without return. One of the largest migrations of history was also one of the greatest crimes of history.... Small men took on the powers and airs of tyrants and masters. Years of unpunished brutality and bullying and rape produced a dullness and hardness of conscience. Christian men and women became blind to the clearest commands of their faith and added hypocrisy to injustice.... For 250 years the captives endured an assault on their culture and their dignity.... While physical slavery is dead, the legacy is alive. My nation’s journey toward justice has not been easy, and it is not over. The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation ... and many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of other times.... We can finally judge the past by the standards of President John Adams, who called slavery ‘an evil of colossal magnitude.’”

The Bush statement is quoted in a slavery resolution introduced by Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando. According to the Times, Siplin has agreed to work for Hill’s resolution, although it has not yet been drafted.

As the Florida Legislature ponders a possible resolution of apology for slavery, I hope they will consider the words of John Newton, the former slave ship captain and later Christian minister who authored perhaps the world’s most well-known hymn, “Amazing Grace” (from which the film is titled). As told in the film, Newton recalls his slave-trading days, haunted by the “20,000 ghosts,” people he helped enslave with “beautiful, African names. We called them with just grunts, noises. We were apes; they were humans!”

This is the ugly truth about slavery—a truth that Floridians must face and for which our state should formally apologize. It’s only fitting—and long past due—that a state which countenanced and flourished from the practice of slavery should give formal recognition to its role in that evil institution and formally apologize for it.