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The crime of innocence and the depths of sorriness: Notes on apologies and reparations in the United States

In this article, I reflect on apologies and reparations as these themes relate to “sorriness,” a vernacular discourse which attributes blame for social problems onto African Americans. Drawing on an anthropological case study of White tobacco growers in North Carolina, I show how talk of sorriness reflects an emphasis on personal responsibility that is widespread in American culture and helps to legitimize punitive public policies and constrain efforts to address an astonishing wealth gap. Extending a critical analysis of how aspects of American culture impede apologies and reparations to specifically examine a dynamic of racialization that colors meanings and models of citizenship and status in tobacco country, I assess a textual economy of how saying “sorry” does something other than apologize and connect an intensive case study to a critique of how a broad culture of whiteness has a hard time with apologies and reparations. This article addresses the construction of American “innocence” on multiple levels and speaks to the politics of race and innocence amid deep historical burdens and debates and contestations that arise around affirmative action and reparations in the United States.