Yesterday I told you about how the Queen of England may be "expressing regret" for the toll blacks and Native Americans had to pay for the "founding of America" when she visits Virginia today and tomorrow. And the state of Virginia passed a resolution apologizing for the state's role in slavery months ago, starting a slow but steady stream of politically-motivated apologies among the former slave states. Apologies are nice, but what do they really mean? As a recent Time article points out, when we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement, which one could call the 400th anniversary of America, although we all know there was an America, replete with inhabitants and vibrant culture, long before English-speaking settlers decided to steal it, we are celebrating the birth of a slave culture that still affects Americans of all colors today.

The great achievement of the civil rights revolution was the dismantling of what the inheritors of Jamestown had instituted. Today a black woman fills one of the most powerful political offices after the presidency, and a black man holds serious promise of becoming the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. Whatever the persisting problems of black Americans–many of which, like a fragile family life and the lack of inheritance, also originated in slavery–it is now incontestable that they belong to America as America belongs to them. In this, America stands far above all other multiethnic Western nations. Nonetheless, it cannot, and should never, be forgotten that the racial tragedy that began in Jamestown took more than 350 years to overcome.

The author of the article points out that of all the colonies, slavery in Virginia was the most pernicious and unyielding in the 1600s, and creating the culture that took hold of the Southern part of the country in the following centuries. Obviously I understand why the 400th anniversary of Jamestown is a significant event in American history, but, in general, we have a tendency to sugarcoat our past — to forget, for instance, that our founding fathers that we hold on a pedestal owned slaves and that our country was built on the backs of blacks and on the graves of Native Americans. Not to be a downer or anything. Go Jamestown!

[Time]