Nebraska will express no regrets about slavery this legislative session.

Sen. Dwite Pedersen of Elkhorn took a point of personal privilege Tuesday afternoon to tell senators he would withdraw a resolution that would have expressed regret — not an apology — for slavery in the Nebraska territory and condemned racial discrimination in any form toward African Americans.

“I do not do it with anger, without thought or without hurt,” Pedersen said.

The Judiciary Committee’s taking the word “apology” from the resolution has weighed heavily on him the past four days, he said.

“I cannot take up the time of the Legislature for something I cannot personally support,” he said.

The resolution was to have been discussed and voted upon Wednesday by the Legislature.

Pedersen introduced a resolution late in the session that called for an expression of regret to those who were enslaved and an apology for wrongs inflicted by slavery and its aftereffects in Nebraska.

The resolution also encouraged Nebraskans to teach their children about the history of slavery and its effects so such tragedies would be neither forgotten nor repeated.

When the Judiciary Committee discussed the resolution last week to decide whether to send it to the full Legislature, the committee voted to take out the apology and leave only an expression of regret and condemnation of racism.

Committee Chairman Brad Ashford and Vice Chairman Steve Lathrop, both of Omaha, argued against the apology.

Ashford said it would be more appropriate to pass laws that promote fairness, equality and equal opportunity.

Lathrop said it was not the role of the state to say “I’m sorry.”

After Pedersen withdrew the resolution, Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers also took a point of personal privilege to support Pedersen’s decision. To present the resolution in a watered down form would be “a trivialization of a very serious, serious matter,” he said.

Six state legislatures have passed resolutions similar to Pedersen’s, with apologies, he said. Other countries, including German and Australia, have apologized for wrongs committed against groups of people there.

“All that has been shown by this exercise is the depth and breadth of racism in this state,” Chambers said.

He and others still bear the psychological scars of what slavery did to black people, he said, including the destruction of families and self-belief, and the harm to religions, culture and traditions.

“To be owned and treated like animals and bred and sold like animals is something, obviously, which my colleagues cannot understand,” he said.

He appreciated that Pedersen made the resolution a moral principle, he said, and that he would not compromise.

Ashford said withdrawing the resolution was probably best.

“It’s a complex issue,” he said. “It’s not a matter we should be taking up in the last few days of the session.”

Leola Bullock, a Lincoln civil rights and social justice advocate, said she had not been satisfied with the changes to the resolution by the Judiciary Committee.

Leaders of the state, she said, have shown an unwillingness to stand up for all Nebraskans.

Attorney General Jon Bruning’s unwillingness to support the requests of the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, and Gov. Dave Heineman’s and Bruning’s sponsorship of a bill that would have taken away in-state college tuition from undocumented immigrants who attend high school in Nebraska show they weren’t working for all people in the state, she said.

“I reluctantly say that sounds racist to me,” Bullock said. “Nebraska should be better than that.”

All Nebraskans are not white, she said. There are many people of color who should be recognized, too.

“It’s really too bad,” she said. “I feel our state leaders have let us down.”

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.