LINCOLN, Neb.—A formal state apology for slavery could “clear the air” and pave the way for healing, a Lincoln civil rights activist told Nebraska lawmakers on Monday.
Lela Shanks, who said her great-grandmother was born into slavery in Tennessee, spoke in support of a legislative resolution (LR284) to express “profound regret” and sympathies to those who were enslaved and their descendants.
“Slavery has never … seemed remote in my life,” Shanks said.
Children need to know the truth about slavery in Nebraska, she said, and a formal apology would give schools the courage to teach “an inclusive national history.”
Gregg Johnson of Lincoln, who also supports the bill, said it’s important to say publicly that what 19th-century Nebraskans did wasn’t acceptable.
“As a middle-aged white guy, I do not see what other people run into,” Johnson said. “I don’t see racism. I don’t have that experience.”
The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard testimony Monday and will decide whether to advance the resolution to the full Legislature before the session ends April 17. A resolution gets just one vote by lawmakers instead of the normal three for legislation and does not require a signature from the governor.
Lawmakers in New Jersey, Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia have issued apologies for slavery. Nebraska would be the first Midwest state to formally apologize.
The Nebraska Territory banned slavery in 1861, the year the Civil War started.
But Nebraska was a center of turmoil over slavery in the 1800s because Iowa was a free state and Missouri was a slave state, according to the resolution.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened lands west of the Missouri River to white settlement, allowed settlers to decide for themselves whether to own slaves.
One person spoke against the resolution Monday. Anthony Metz of Omaha said it’s not possible to apologize to those who lived 150 years ago.
“I’m not sure that actual healing takes place,” Metz said. “I’m not sure that it’s not like picking a scab.”
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