Missouri would formally apologize for its role in slavery under a resolution waiting for House floor debate.
Rep. T-D El-Amin (D-St. Louis) says a simple motivation is behind his pushing for the apology: to get the state of Missouri to apologize for its role. El-Amin points out it wouldn’t be an unprecedented action. In 1976, then-Governor Bond issued an executive order apologizing for the 1938 execution order against Mormons.
El-Amin, who is black, hopes to convince his white colleagues of the need to apologize. He says there is a tendency to minimize what is important to African-Americans. El-Amin says he hopes HCR 26 begins a dialogue between the races that will explore the roots of racism and help eliminate the barriers against members of the minority that keep them from advancing in society.
Missouri entered the Union as a slave state, part of the 1820 Missouri Compromise. It was the first slave state to renounce the practice.