Do Southern Whites owe a collective apology to the United States?

[Mehmentum]

Not for this shooting in particular, but for the history of violence and discrimination which has left a lasting legacy of inequality and division in this country, yes.

Nobody should feel responsible for or feel obligated to apologize simply for belonging to a certain demographic group. 

I am a Southern white, and am well aware that some of my ancestors likely owned slaves, and that many more discriminated against African Americans, leading to the current climate of racial inequality. 

Their crimes are not my sins.  Neither are (of course) Dylann Roof's.  Though I feel the responsibility, as a member of society and a human being, to do what I can to change our society for the better, I am not responsible simply because of who my ancestors are.

There are many southern whites who have contributed to and are responsible for racism and racial inequality.  However, they are responsible for what they have done, nothing more, nothing less. 

[ag]

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I don't agree that the call to "speak out against" something you did not do, and a call for an apology about something you did not do, are the same thing.

Both imply some sort of collective responsibility. Which, of course, is abhorent. The rest is semantics.

"Muslim community" cannot possibly speak out against something - it is not an organized entity in any sense. You could, perhaps, insist that the Pope speak out against something - he speaks for a Church, I guess.

[ag]

"Southern Whites" cannot give a collective apology to anyone: not to the US, not to Barney-the-dinosaur.

Quite a few Southern Whites, though, would do well to rethink their behavior and attitudes - individually.

[ag]

Asking them to condemn, on the other hand, that is reasonable. Especially when the perpetrators cite being Muslim as their justification.

I want to be very clear on something. I DO NOT intend to apologize for any actions of Jewish extremists. Nor do I feel any need to repeatedly condemn them to all the world - even though perpetrators cite being Jewish as their justification. My name is not Baruch Goldstein, and I do not think anyone has the right to insist that I condemn him over and over. I have no more to do with him than with any other SOB out there: be his name Carlos the Jackal, Osama bin Laden, Tim McWeigh, Breiwick, or whomever else you would like to recall.

[ag]

As a White person, I condemn Dylann Root. Shooting random Black people is bad. I imagine you will find very few White people who have a hard time saying the same.

But you would find it highly annoying if people were telling you to apologize for Dylann Root as soon as they saw your white face.

Jews do not use the blood of Christian babies in preparing meals. Nevertheless, forgive me if I am going to refuse to satisfy your request to condemn such a practice.

[DC Al Fine]

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I don't agree that the call to "speak out against" something you did not do, and a call for an apology about something you did not do, are the same thing.

Both imply some sort of collective responsibility. Which, of course, is abhorent. The rest is semantics.

"Muslim community" cannot possibly speak out against something - it is not an organized entity in any sense. You could, perhaps, insist that the Pope speak out against something - he speaks for a Church, I guess.

This