Quote:
Originally Posted by Ciaran
I agree with most of your post but I struggle to understand this perspective. I totally understand how this Professor can apologise for his own actions against those who were black. However, what gives him the right to apologise for others in the way that they have acted?
To me, whilst I'm sure it's not intended as such, offering up an apology on behalf of a people is extremely arrogant unless you are an official representative of those people and have explicit authority to offer up such an apology.
In this instance, this Professor appears to be taking it upon himself to speak for, and represent, a large proportion of society. He doesn't. He can only represent himself (and, perhaps, those in his close circle) .... he cannot assume the voice of others.
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Gotta quit following Ciaran around into threads like this one (I'm really not!)
This reminds me of the movement that pops up now and then, that white people should pay reparations to African-Americans for slavery, as a kind of apology. I see obvious problems with that: not every person of color is African-American, or descended from slaves, the lineage of many people of color in this country is much longer than that of most whites, so many white people weren't even here during those years; how do you classify biracial people, etc. That's another post, and probably a heated one
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Same with say, one German apologizing for all of Germany for the Holocaust. Many Germans opposed the Nazis and others aided Jews and other victims.
I just don't see how one person can speak for an entire group, when not all of that group participated in any kind of oppression.