Following on the heels of Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama’s historic speech on race, it seems apt that the state Senate has officially apologized for its support of African slavery, in a resolution that calls for reconciliation.

Obama’s speech, which many are calling the “most honest and unbiased speech on race” opened up a new dialogue about race relations in the nation and possibly around the world. While the resolution was not passed based on the speech, it could not have occurred at a more significant moment in the nation’s history, when the front runner for the democratic nominee is a Black man, who though not a descendant of slaves, is subject to the harsh legacy of slavery that many African Americans still experience to date.

Senators in Tallahassee approved the motion following a detailed account of the savagery slaves endured in the 19^th century and the unwillingness of previous lawmakers to recognize and reject the intolerance and mistreatment of blacks in the United States.

The first slave laws in Florida were enacted in the 1820s and political leaders at the time actively defended the atrocity. However, following the Civil War, the Florida Constitution of 1868 gave Blacks suffrage and abolished slavery in the state. Unfortunately, the inequities remained and were a part of the race speech Obama presented recently.

Obama spoke of these inequalities, some of which have been institutionalized and as such more difficult to detect and penalize.