tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/apologies-65950/articlesApologies – The Conversation2024-01-19T13:40:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2205822024-01-19T13:40:32Z2024-01-19T13:40:32ZStudents in this course learn the art of the apology<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>Sorry: The art and literature of the apology</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>A number of years ago our students and faculty read Eula Biss’ book “<a href="https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/notes-no-mans-land">Notes from No Man’s Land</a>” for our first-year reading program. </p>
<p>It ends with her essay “All Apologies,” which braids together seemingly disparate moments of apology: Biss to her little sister for hitting her, Ronald Reagan’s apology to <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/redress-and-reparations-japanese-american-incarceration">Japanese Americans for WWII internment</a>, and Bill Clinton’s apologies <a href="https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/17/speech/">for marital indiscretion</a>, to Hawaiians <a href="https://www.hawaii-nation.org/publawsum.html">for the U.S. overthrowing their monarchy</a> and <a href="https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/textonly/New/Remarks/Fri/19970516-898.html">for the Tuskegee syphilis experiment</a>.</p>
<p>I had the opportunity to expand on a discussion of Biss’ book with a class of first-year students. It started me thinking about the significance of the apology in our lives. From politicians and other public figures to friends and family, we often experience the apology given or withheld.</p>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>The course explores much more than just the anatomy of an apology and what makes an apology succeed or fail. The course also gets students to consider how apologies can be used to understand historical events, interpersonal relationships and differences in culture and gender. We also discover how apologies provide insight into the nature of celebrity and corporate success.</p>
<p>When former Canadian Prime Minister <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100015644/1571589171655">Stephen Harper apologized</a> in 2015 on behalf of the government for having forcibly removed Indigenous children from their homes to teach them in residential schools, he repeated “we are sorry” in French, Cree, Anishinaabe and Inuktitut, recognizing the very cultures the forcible removal was meant to erase.</p>
<p>After several people died from <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tylenol-murders-1982">cyanide-laced Tylenol</a> in 1982, the parent company – Johnson & Johnson – issued a statement that has since become one of most oft-cited examples of an <a href="https://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/02C2/Johnson%20&%20Johnson.htm">effective corporate apology</a>.</p>
<p>When Ellen DeGeneres apologized in 2020 for fostering a toxic workplace, it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egn3CuQRHW8">missed the mark</a> because she tempered it with humor and didn’t take ownership. Similarly, YouTuber Colleen Ballinger, accused of exploiting her fans, failed spectacularly in her apology, not because it was accompanied by her ukulele strumming but because she <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceKMnyMYIMo&t=3s">painted herself as a victim</a>.</p>
<p>Assignments include a case study that each student chooses and a short research paper on a related topic, such as shame, confession, guilt, forgiveness and absolution.</p>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>We are living in a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/05/trump-santos-justice/674023/">post-shame era </a> in which outrageous and offensive behavior is often accepted and even applauded.</p>
<p>For instance, the current governor of Montana body-slammed a reporter while running – successfully – for Congress; entertainer James Corden apologized for berating a hapless waiter but then withdrew the apology; “Real Housewives” throw drinks and flip tables.</p>
<p>The apology itself is often monetized, weaponized or – most often – skipped over. Almost 20 years ago, Aaron Lazare wrote about the growing importance of apology and its power and complexity in his book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/on-apology-9780195189117?cc=us&lang=en&">On Apology</a>.”</p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>A good apology – that is, an effective one – offers a reset, restoring balance or repairing a rupture. A really good apology might even strengthen the relationship between the offender and the offended. </p>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<p>Course texts include scientific studies, transcripts of apologies, essays and poetry. The novel <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/sorry-9781741666632">“Sorry” by Australian writer Gail Jones</a> opens a unit on the national apology, the debt to Indigenous people and the case for reparations.</p>
<p>The unit ends with a screening of Mimi Chakarova’s 2023 film on Russell City – <a href="https://www.theapologyfilm.com/">“The Apology”</a>.</p>
<p>Students begin the semester by writing their own personal apologies. I never ask to whom. They are submitted in sealed envelopes. Students revisit their apologies at the end of the semester. I never read them.</p>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>My hope is that by the end of the semester the students will be able to apologize effectively. But like all courses in the humanities, it is meant to teach students to analyze and interpret texts and to appreciate the very best creative expressions of humanity, even when created in response to the very worst actions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nancy E. Berg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Apologies can easily go awry if they’re not made in a certain way.Nancy E. Berg, Professor of comparative literature, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. LouisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1878232022-08-04T16:04:58Z2022-08-04T16:04:58ZReparations to Indigenous Peoples are critical after Pope’s apology for residential schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476773/original/file-20220730-18-gla12u.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C717%2C6130%2C3589&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A protestor holds a sign saying 'Reparation for Reconciliation' as Pope Francis arrives for a public event in Iqaluit, Nunavut on July 29, 2022, during his papal visit across Canada. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people are contemplating Pope Francis’s recent apology for residential schools in Canada during his visit <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/read-the-full-text-of-pope-francis-speech-and-apology-1.6001384">to Alberta</a>, as well as his statements <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-pope-francis-renews-his-apology-in-quebec/">from Québec City</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/pope-francis-iqaluit-nunavut-visit-1.6535224">and Iqaluit</a>. In the aftermath of historical atrocities, apologies can offer a sense of justice and acknowledgement for people who were the targets of institutional violence. </p>
<p>People are looking for two things: </p>
<ol>
<li>Authenticity — Are the Pope’s statements a genuine reflection of the church’s “penance” and commitments to change?</li>
<li>Responsibility — Do the Pope’s statements demonstrate willingness and resolve for the church to address systemic causes and effects of specific harms?</li>
</ol>
<p>Many are waiting to see <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/pope-francis-residential-schools-genocide-1.6537203">if the Roman Catholic Church</a> will take institutional responsibility <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2015.1096580">for genocide</a>, sexualized abuse, <a href="https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/st-anne-residential-school-opp-documents">torture</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-residential-schools.html#">and the deaths of thousands of Indigenous children</a>. </p>
<p>A more fulsome apology would acknowledge the church’s wrongdoing, and complicity with the Canadian settler-colonial state, to <a href="https://www.insightexchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Language-and-Violence-Resource-Kit.pdf">suppress Indigenous resistance</a> in order to access land. The links between extracting resources and taking children from Indigenous communities, and attacks on communities throughout this process, have been obscured — and reparations have a role addressing this. </p>
<h2>Violence prevention</h2>
<p>As a Métis scholar, with Cree and Gwichin ancestry, I have been committed to improving the conditions and well-being of Indigenous people in Canada.</p>
<p>I was recently lead researcher on a project at Concordia University called “<a href="https://www.concordia.ca/cuevents/artsci/2021/10/22/indigenous-healing-knowledges.html">Indigenous Healing Knowledges</a>.” One insight shared by many survivors at a related conference where Elders, Knowledge keepers and Indigenous youth offered teachings about their experiences and approaches to healing, is that people are more likely to recover — and promptly — when
<a href="https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs101201918804">the violence against them has been acknowledged</a> and not minimized.</p>
<p>Recovery is more likely when they have been made safe, received care and have been treated with dignity. </p>
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<img alt="Elders seen in a crowd listening." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Indigenous Elders listen as Pope Francis gives an apology during a public event in Iqaluit, Nunavut on July 29, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Accurate language use, in reference to violence, serves as a positive and just social response, which is important for restoring well-being. <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1450124405592/1529106060525">Reconciliation</a> must be preceded by truth-telling. The absence of historic truth leads to uncomfortable distortions for targeted groups. </p>
<h2>Ineffective apologies</h2>
<p>Apology analyst Andy Molinsky, a professor of international management and organizational behaviour at Brandeis University in the United States, describes <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/11/the-4-types-of-ineffective-apologies">four types of ineffective apologies</a>. </p>
<p>Two apology-types described by Molinsky are visible in the Pope’s statements: the “excessive apology” (or “I’m so sorry, I feel so bad”) that draws attention to one’s own feelings rather than what was done. The “incomplete apology” takes the tone of “I’m sorry that this happened, I’m sorry that you feel this way” and uses passive language. </p>
<p>For example, in drawing attention to his own feelings of sorrow, Pope Francis neglected to acknowledge the rampant sexualized violence that destroyed many lives in residential schools. In his July 28 remarks, he references the “evil” of sexual abuse, but did not <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9023430/pope-denounces-evil-sexual-abuse">say specifically that sexual abuse happened in the residential schools</a>. </p>
<p>He said the church in Canada is on a new path after being devastated by “the evil perpetrated by some of its sons and daughters.”</p>
<h2>Pathologizing of survivors</h2>
<p>I would add a fifth aspect to Molinsky’s list of ineffective apologies: the pathologizing of victims/survivors. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-franciss-visit-to-canada-was-full-of-tensions-both-from-what-was-said-and-what-wasnt-186886">Pope Francis's visit to Canada was full of tensions — both from what was said and what wasn’t</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<img alt="A man in white clerical robes and a skullcap is seen seated and speaking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pope Francis speaks during a public event in Iqaluit, Nunavut on July 29, 2022, during his papal visit across Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shifting the topic away from violence to the trauma of others conceals violence, disappears perpetrators and <a href="https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs101201918804">may result in blaming victims</a>. This shift conceals the preceding acts of deliberation, planning and entrapment. Focusing on the mind of the victim is a strategy used by perpetrators, and their associates, to discredit victims and their claims.</p>
<h2>Taking children, lands</h2>
<p>Linda Coates and Allan Wade, two researchers <a href="https://www.responsebasedpractice.com/members">based in British Columbia</a> who examine violence and language, documented <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-00724-002">how representations of perpetrator violence in various media involve four linguistic operations</a>: they conceal violence, obscure perpetrator responsibility, conceal victim resistance and blame and pathologize victims. </p>
<p>The problem of violence is inextricably linked to the problem of representation. As such, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/this-school-is-a-jail-house-documents-reveal-the-horrors-of-indian-residential-schools">child prison camps are presented as “residential schools;”</a> violence as “trauma;” resistance as “resilience;” and “reconciliation” replaces “reparations.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-to-dont-call-me-resilient-our-podcast-about-race-149692">Listen to 'Don't Call Me Resilient': Our podcast about race</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Finally, there is a difference between an apology and forgiveness. Apologies can be coercive if they merely transfer responsibility for “reconciliation” or “getting over it” to the victims/survivors. </p>
<h2>Repairing harms</h2>
<p>In order for history to be aligned with the realities of state abuse, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-s-bishops-want-catholic-church-to-issue-new-statement-on-doctrine-of-discovery-1.6004557">a plan of action must follow</a> an apology. </p>
<p>In terms of reparations, the Pope’s recent apologies were accompanied by Indigenous calls for action, including <a href="https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022/07/26/Post-Apology-To-Do-List/">by Cindy Blackstock</a>, <a href="https://www.therecord.com/ts/news/canada/2022/07/26/pope-franciss-apology-fails-to-meet-truth-and-reconciliation-call-to-action-sinclair.html">Murray Sinclair</a>, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/07/26/pope-francis-we-dont-accept-your-hollow-apology-heres-why.html?fbclid=IwAR0A8i3lDk35ceh4lPc2MWXdQy7xX29wo4hofuqD9Q2jvirtVJzxqeFCLis">Pamela Palmater</a> and other Indigenous leaders. </p>
<p>Despite the obscuring language in the Pope’s apologies, his visit could mark a new way forward — if the Catholic Church supports and initiates actions laid out in the Truth and Reconciliation’s 94 calls to action. Both the church and our legal, educational and governance structures across Canada have much farther to go. </p>
<p>At a recent conference <a href="https://ialmh.org/general-information">on Law and Mental Health</a>, in Lyon, France, legal panelists indicated that a fuller implementation of UNDRIP would address many of Indigenous Peoples’ oustanding concerns. Much of Canada’s wealth has come from what was taken from Indigenous people.</p>
<p>Correcting this wrong will assist Indigenous nations in their self-governance process. </p>
<p>Another important role of the Roman Catholic church is to return some of the land stolen from Indigenous Peoples. The church must also look to its own formidable existing assets to swiftly <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8997434/canada-bishops-fundraiser-residential-schools">honour the compensation package Catholic entities agreed to pay under the 2006 settlement</a>. Church leaders now say they need five years to raise the current target of $30 million.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men in black clerical robes are seen walking past a seated man in a white clerical robe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cardinals walk by Pope Francis during the final public event of his papal visit across Canada as he prepares to leave Iqaluit, Nunavut on July 29, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A different country</h2>
<p>In Canada, Indigenous communities continue to face encroachment by the settler society, particularly by extractive industries as land defenders are arrested. Children are still <a href="https://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2087&context=all_fac">removed from their homes</a> when supports could be offered instead.</p>
<p>Church leaders cannot look the other way and pretend the church has no relationship to these legacies of harm.</p>
<p>The church’s values are said to include <a href="https://www.caritas.org.nz/catholic-social-teaching/human-dignity#">respect for and promotion of human dignity</a>, spiritual devotion to <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2016/04/08/top-10-takeaways-amoris-laetitia">the family and community</a>, charity and <a href="https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/ignatian-spirituality/introduction-to-ignatian-spirituality/social-justice-catholic-social-teaching/">social justice</a>. </p>
<p>If extended to Indigenous Peoples and nations, Canada would be a very different country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Richardson is affiliated with The Centre for Response-Based Practice trying to address violence. I am the Quebec Indigenous critic for the Green Party and a member of the Green party but I don't mention that here. I have received SSHRC research grants, including for the Indigenous Healing Practices grant. In some of the writings for this grant, I explain context but it is not directly related to the Pope's visit.</span></em></p>The Pope’s apology could mark a new way forward if the Catholic Church makes genuine reparations for the evils it perpetrated.Catherine Richardson, Director, First Peoples Studies Program, Associate Professor, School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853662022-06-20T19:58:56Z2022-06-20T19:58:56ZNo justifications, excuses or box-ticking: the art of a successful celebrity apology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469637/original/file-20220620-24-5heacw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C13%2C4634%2C3084&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Pizzello/Invision</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Less than a week ago, American singer and rapper Lizzo set a new bar for celebrity apologies. Lizzo re-released her latest single <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r9TbKLCus0">GRRRLS</a> after receiving criticism online, due to the first verse in the song containing an ableist slur.</p>
<p>Fans and disability advocates shared their disappointment and hurt over the lyric. On <a href="https://twitter.com/hannah_diviney/status/1535818662749548545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1535818662749548545%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmusic%2F2022%2Fjun%2F14%2Flizzo-removes-harmful-ableist-slur-from-new-song-grrrls-after-criticism">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@crutches_and_spice/video/7108561442999110954?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en">TikTok</a> the use of the term and its history as offensive was discussed and dissected. Lizzo <a href="https://twitter.com/lizzo/status/1536480260732047361?s=20&t=2myZ168KKmXvo2JBEfMNrA">tweeted an apologetic statement</a> three days later, receiving high praise. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1536480260732047361"}"></div></p>
<p>A celebrity apology acts as a turning point, influencing if and how fans will continue to support them. Done well, a celebrity apology allows their fans to see behind the constructed persona, understand their motivations and view them as genuine. </p>
<p>From Ariana Grande <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/09/entertainment/ariana-grande-donut-licking-america/index.html">licking a donut</a> and claiming she “hated America”, and Will Smith’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-smiths-oscar-slap-reveals-fault-lines-as-he-defends-jada-pinkett-smith-against-chris-rock-podcast-180280">infamous Oscars slap</a>, to offensive comments and criminal allegations, we want celebrities to show they are sorry. We demand these statements so frequently that Chris Pratt made a “<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2015/5/25/8654983/jurassic-world-chris-pratt-apology">heartfelt apology</a> for whatever it is he would end up accidentally saying”.</p>
<p>So, why was Lizzo’s apology so effective? </p>
<h2>Acknowledge the mistake</h2>
<p>An apology is made up of two parts, the first being an acknowledgement. <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/802911/how-hugh-grant-became-the-poster-boy-for-the-perfectly-executed-celebrity-apology">Hugh Grant admitting</a> “[he] did a bad thing and there you have it” is widely considered one of the best, as he owned his arrest and affair. </p>
<p>Lizzo’s reads: </p>
<p>“It’s been brought to my attention there is a harmful word in my new song ‘GRRRLS’. Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language.”</p>
<p>She addresses and admits to her mistake and the hurt caused, in a clear and explicit way. The second sentence of her acknowledgement acts to set the record straight ensuring what we knew of her persona to be true: Lizzo <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/14/lizzo-removes-harmful-ableist-slur-from-new-song-grrrls-after-criticism">champions acceptance and self-love</a>. </p>
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</figure>
<h2>Show you’re sorry</h2>
<p>The second part of an apology is showing remorse. It indicates the apology is not performative or a box-ticking exercise and communicates genuine regret. For example, Kristen Stewart was “<a href="https://people.com/celebrity/kristen-stewarts-apology-to-robert-pattinson-for-cheating/">deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment [she] caused</a>” over her affair, and Chris Evans “<a href="https://ew.com/article/2015/04/23/chris-evans-jeremy-renner-black-widow-slut/">rightfully angered some fans</a>” over his use of offensive language.</p>
<p>Social and political philosopher, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26370758">Alice MacLachlan argues</a> there are many emotions which can signify remorse. An apology could express “sorrow, shame, or anger […] guilt, sheepish[ness], heartbreak, despair [or] hope”. The emotion conveyed should be suitable to the scandal. </p>
<p>Lizzo shows remorse as empathetic:</p>
<p>“As a fat Black woman in America, I’ve had many hurtful words used against me so I overstand the power words can have (whether intentionally or in my case, unintentionally)”. </p>
<p>Lizzo outlines her motivations were “unintentional”, indicating she was not aware of the words offensive meaning. The lack in knowledge could have been used as an excuse, justification, or a way to avoid blame and responsibility. However Lizzo demonstrated accountability for the hurt she caused fans. </p>
<p>Justifications and excuses are considered a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0163853X.2015.1056690">non-apology</a>. Celebrities who use passive and vague language, generate further criticism on top of the scandal. The common phrase, “to anyone who I’ve offended”, implies no remorse and suggests the celebrity does not understand or care about what they are apologising for. </p>
<p>Non-apologies have been uttered <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/jennifer-lawrence-apologizes-hawaiian-people-hunger-games-filming/story?id=44107271">by Jennifer Lawrence</a> (“the way it was perceived was not funny”), <a href="https://ew.com/article/2015/04/23/chris-evans-jeremy-renner-black-widow-slut/">Jeremy Renner</a> (“it was not meant to be serious”), and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/10/15/20916272/gina-rodriguez-n-word-apology-backlash-history">Gina Rodriguez</a> to name a few.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-will-smiths-slap-and-what-it-means-to-protect-a-loved-one-180532">Revisiting Will Smith's slap and what it means to protect a loved one</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Make amends</h2>
<p>If action does not follow an apology, it can be considered “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ncmr.12073">cheap talk</a>”. Lizzo showcased immediate amends:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m proud to say there’s a new version of GRRRLS with a lyric change. This is the result of me listening and taking action.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By re-releasing the single, Lizzo amended her mistake, decreased negative reactions to the original lyric, and maintained her relationship with her fans.</p>
<p>Lizzo then summarised her intentions behind <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/787877/summary">why she apologised</a> stating:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As an influential artist I’m dedicated to being part of the change I’ve been waiting to see in the world.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The reasoning behind her apology aligns with her public values. It appears her intentions were pure, rather than only seeking forgiveness without any growth, learning or making amends.</p>
<p>Finally, Lizzo responded in a timely manner, delivering her apologetic statement three days after offence was caused. Timing an apology correctly and appropriately is a delicate balance. Too soon and the victims have not had enough time to process their hurt, and too late the apology will lose value and meaning. </p>
<p>A good celebrity apology is rare. We are consistently expecting apologies in the hope one day we might see one and this time, Lizzo delivered.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185366/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Scales does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A good celebrity apology is rare. Lizzo recently apologised for the use of an ableist slur in her new single, which is considered one of the rare examples of a sincere apology.Sarah Scales, PhD Candidate, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1852622022-06-19T12:50:49Z2022-06-19T12:50:49ZThe Toronto police apology for its treatment of racialized people is meaningless without action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469545/original/file-20220617-23-os3su.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2670&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chief James Ramer of the Toronto Police Service speaks during a press conference releasing the 2020 race-based data, at police headquarters in Toronto on June 15, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-toronto-police-apology-for-its-treatment-of-racialized-people-is-meaningless-without-action" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The newly released findings on race-based data of the Toronto Police Service offers another grim reminder of the realities of law enforcement in Canada. <a href="https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/22060566-98ccfdad-fe36-4ea5-a54c-d610a1c5a5a1/?embed=1">The 119-page document</a>, titled <em>Race & Identity Based Data Collection Strategy
Understanding: Use of Force & Strip Searches in 2020</em>, explores 7,114 strip searches and 949 incidents involving use of force. </p>
<p>The report finds that Black, Indigenous and racialized people were over-represented in “enforcement actions” by police. For example, although Black people made up 10 per cent of Toronto’s population, they comprised 22.6 per cent of law enforcement actions such as arrests, tickets and cautions. </p>
<p>There is a disproportionate impact of use of force on various minority groups — <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-police-race-based-data-use-force-strip-searches-1.6489151">Black, Latino, East/Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern people were reportedly over-represented by factors of 1.6 times, 1.5 times, 1.2 times and 1.2 times, respectively</a>. Minorities were also more likely to have weapons drawn against them by police.</p>
<p>These findings are familiar, yet deeply troubling. There have been years of <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/03/23/toronto-police-diversity-transgender-inclusion/">community consultations</a>, “<a href="https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/get-involved/community/policing-reform/">reforms</a>,” cultural sensitivity, anti-bias training and <a href="https://cacp.ca/index.html?asst_id=3012">diversity and inclusivity policies</a> and programs. But the problem of police using disproportional force has refused to go away. </p>
<p>These findings are not organizational accidents — they reflect conscious and unconscious decisions to use force when dealing with certain sectors of the population.</p>
<h2>Insults and apologies</h2>
<p>James Ramer, the interim Toronto Police chief, offered an apology on June 15: “As an organization, we have not done enough to ensure that every person in our city receives fair and unbiased policing.… As chief of police and on behalf of the police, I am sorry and I apologize unreservedly.” </p>
<p>However, activists and Toronto minority leaders are understandably frustrated. Beverly Bain, from the <a href="https://www.noprideinpolicing.ca/">No Pride in Policing Coalition</a>, refused to accept the chief’s apology: “<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/06/16/newly-released-race-based-data-renews-calls-to-defund-toronto-police.html">What we have asked for you to do is stop. To stop brutalizing us. To stop killing us.</a>” Bain called Ramer’s apology a “public relations stunt,” which she considered “insulting” to those affected. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I5s_CYdbeyQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Scholar-activist Beverly Bain responds to Toronto Police Service chief’s apology.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The apology and its refusal demonstrate the growing gulf between the police and the communities they are sworn to protect. There is no need for them to apologize if they are going to continue to do the exact thing. Apologizing becomes an empty, performative act designed to save face and get though a news conference with limited damage.</p>
<h2>Police force</h2>
<p>My research team and I began studying police use of force, particularly using conducted energy weapons (CEWs) like Tasers, in the late 2000s. We found that men belonging to ethnic minority groups with a recent immigration history, who suffered from mental health problems or had a history of substance abuse, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2012.629514">were over-represented among those who died during or shortly after CEWs were used</a>.</p>
<p>In 2021, I served as the <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/university-of-alberta-associate-professor-assigned-as-special-adviser-for-albertas-police-act-review">special adviser to the Government of Alberta its Police Act Review</a>. I saw first-hand the frustrations of under-served and over-policed populations during public engagement sessions. Many citizens were tired of being maltreated by those paid to protect them.</p>
<p>Bain’s refusal to accept the chief’s apology also underscores the fact that accountability and responsibility are missing from the report. Who are the officers responsible for these incidents? What disciplinary actions did they face? Are the annual deaths, injuries and psychological damage an acceptable price some segments of society must prepare to bear perpetually? Is there no alternative to this approach to law enforcement? </p>
<p>It is one thing to acknowledge that the police service has a problem, it is another to ensure accountability to ease out perpetrators. Without that, the next report will be identical to the current one. For communities being targeted, that means more traumatized victims, families and friendship circles.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="people sitting in the street with a BLACK LIVES MATTER sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thousands of people protest to defund the police in support of Black Lives Matter and all social injustice against racism in Toronto in June 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Policing issues</h2>
<p>American sociologist Harvey Sacks has argued that, as occupational specialists, police use the “<a href="http://tucnak.fsv.cuni.cz/%7Ehajek/ModerniSgTeorie/texty_seminar/Sacks.pdf">incongruity procedure</a>.” This means they focus on an assessment of who is in place or out of place. </p>
<p>Therefore, being “noticeable” or “visible” is construed as potentially deviant and worthy of attention. This has translated into treating the mere presence of Black or Indigenous people as a problem in and of itself, even when they are merely <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003084860-4/driving-black-paul-gilroy">driving</a>, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/lake-merritt-bbq-barbecue-video-oakland-racist-charcoal-east-bay-black-family-919355">barbecuing</a> or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/racial-profiling-report-1.4097377">shopping</a>, among other activities. </p>
<p>Being young is no panacea. </p>
<p>In Canada, children younger than seven years of age have been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/human-rights-tribunal-peel-police-black-girl-handcuffed-1.5865322">handcuffed and arrested for throwing tantrums at school</a>. As recently as November of last year, a Kitchener school <a href="https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/02/23/family-and-community-outraged-after-kitchener-school-calls-police-on-four-year-old.html">called police on a four-year-old Black girl</a>.</p>
<h2>Recruitment issues</h2>
<p>Beyond the police-citizen interactions contributing to these statistics, the persistence of this issue is a manifestation of generations of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12344">limited recruitment exercises</a> and an organizational and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611103257074">occupational culture</a> of impunity. </p>
<p>These issues have been the subject of several sociological studies. Research shows that officers who use excessive force make up less than 10 per cent of uniformed police service personnel, and yet the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/us/police-unions-minneapolis-kroll.html">protectionist ring</a> around incorrigible officers is a key problem that remains unaddressed.</p>
<p>Officer misconduct does serious damage to the efforts of the officers who do their jobs fairly and conscientiously.</p>
<p>When incidents of police misconduct are revealed, officers are defended or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ioan-florin-floria-disciplinary-sentencing-1.4685978">placed on paid leave</a>. The role of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017019863653">police unions</a>, employment contracts, <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=1810012">the famed wall of silence</a> and <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/sociology_masrp/7/">a hyper-masculinist organizational context</a> is well-documented.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a crowd of people protest against police brutality with a sign reading SAMMY'S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A crowd marches on Dundas Street in Toronto on July 29, 2013, where Sammy Yatim, 18, was shot nine times and killed by police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michelle Siu</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From reports to recommendations</h2>
<p>The Toronto Police Service is a leader in producing reports and commissions of inquiries regarding officer misconduct. For example, Justice Frank Iacobucci submitted a report with <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/full-list-of-frank-iacobucci-s-recommendations-for-toronto-police-1.1929926">84 recommendations</a> in 2014 following <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/full-parole-for-toronto-cop-who-shot-teen-sammy-yatim-on-empty-streetcar">the killing of Sammy Yatim on a streetcar by a police officer</a>.</p>
<p>The recommendations include prioritizing the hiring of people with university degrees from disciplines like nursing and social work. Research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.04.007">officers who are overly reliant on force and are prone to deploying excessive force usually have a Grade 12 level education or less</a>.</p>
<p>This is common across scores of police jurisdictions. Such officers also tend to be male. There is a need to dismantle the high school diploma and old boys network core of the police, and hire more women, minorities and people with university degrees. </p>
<p>In addition to leadership committed to change and the elimination of unreasonable contract terms that make accountability improbable, these steps have the potential to improve the organizational culture of police forces.</p>
<p>The use of force report also shows that legislative changes do have an impact. The <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/17a15">2017 Ontario Anti-Racism Act</a> made the collection and release of the report possible. While this is no comfort to those affected, it is a central part of the sober reality regarding police use of force. </p>
<p>The public deserves better, given the share of the common purse spent on policing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Temitope Oriola received grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to study the school resource officer program and police use of force in Canada. He is member-at-large of the Alberta Police Misconduct Database Association. </span></em></p>The Toronto Police Service chief apologized to the public for the findings of an investigation that demonstrated the Toronto police’s excessive use of force on racialized residents.Temitope Oriola, Professor, Sociology, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1807682022-04-08T12:32:39Z2022-04-08T12:32:39ZPope Francis apologized for the harm done to First Nations peoples, but what does a pope’s apology mean?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456947/original/file-20220407-24-kbfdv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C17%2C5794%2C3856&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Representatives from the First Nations Inuit and Metis communities, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, after their meeting with Pope Francis, on April 1, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VaticanIndigenous/98d66fe6a63e4df6bfb5a5df2fbfdbdd/photo?Query=pope%20francis%20apology%20first%20nations&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=9&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/francis-apology-full-text-1.6404953">Pope Francis apologized</a> on April 1, 2022, to First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegations, acknowledging the harm done by residential schools in Canada and marking a crucial step in the church admitting its role in the abuse of Indigenous communities and children. Yet this apology, as important as it is, raises questions about what it means when a pope apologizes. </p>
<p>As a Catholic theologian <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z64meKEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">who studies church authority</a>, I’ve observed how previous papal apologies can speak for the entire church and either deny or claim responsibility.</p>
<h2>Developments in papal apologies</h2>
<p>It was once unthinkable for a pope to apologize, for admitting guilt would imply that the church was sinful. However, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-resists-change-but-vatican-ii-shows-its-possible-102543">Second Vatican Council</a>, a gathering of bishops, cardinals, heads of religious orders and theologians that met from 1962 to 1965 and modernized the church, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html">shifted the church’s perspective on change</a> and <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674047495#:%7E:text=What%20Happened%20at%20Vatican%20II%20captures%20the%20drama%20of%20the,%E2%80%9D%20and%20%E2%80%9Cconservative%E2%80%9D%20labels.">instituted major reforms</a>. It also opened the door to admitting fault.</p>
<p>Pope John Paul II apologized for many past errors of the church by marking March 12, 2000 as a “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/documents/ns_lit_doc_20000312_presentation-day-pardon_en.html">Day of Pardon</a>.” In the document announcing the Day of Pardon, John Paul II said “the Church today, through the Successor of Peter, names, declares and confesses the errors of Christians in every age.” </p>
<p>This sent out a signal that papal apologies speak for the entire church, beyond a current pope’s personal responsibility. Just one year before, the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_index.htm">International Theological Commission</a> had <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000307_memory-reconc-itc_en.html">stated</a> that “in the entire history of the Church there are no precedents for papal apologies for ‘past wrongs.’” So, this set a significant new precedent. Christian theologian <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jeremy-m-bergen-1333945">Jeremy M. Bergen</a> <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/ecclesial-repentance-9780567523686/">calls the Day of Pardon</a> “the most widely received instance of ecclesial repentance to date.”</p>
<p>Papal apologies are based on an understanding that the pope is the leader of the <a href="https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe">one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/That_All_May_be_One.html?id=bRG3L0eCh7AC">connected by tradition</a> throughout time. As a result, it is possible for the pope to apologize for an event in the past when he was not pope, or perhaps not even born yet, because the church of a thousand years ago is connected to today.</p>
<p>When a pope apologizes, the apology often addresses the feelings of the victims, yet fails to implicate the church as responsible. Pope Benedict XVI <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080719_cathedral.html">acknowledged the pain of sexual abuse victims</a> when he said in 2008, “I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured, and I assure them that, as their pastor, I too share in their suffering.” Yet, Benedict XVI often <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20100319_church-ireland.html">stopped short of apologizing</a> for the church’s cover-up.</p>
<p>By not admitting the church’s wrongdoing and cover-up, these apologies straddle a line of expressing regret without taking ownership and accountability. It is similar to a friend saying “I am sorry you felt that way” without claiming responsibility.</p>
<h2>Pope Francis and apologies</h2>
<p>Francis more often admits the church’s fault for its actions. In a 2015 speech in Bolivia, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/world/americas/pope-francis-bolivia-catholic-church-apology.html">Pope Francis spoke of the “grave sins” of colonization</a> in the Americas and said, “I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offense of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456950/original/file-20220407-14-misq8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Wearing a poncho, Pope Francis waves from the popemobile as a large crowd of people surround him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456950/original/file-20220407-14-misq8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456950/original/file-20220407-14-misq8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456950/original/file-20220407-14-misq8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456950/original/file-20220407-14-misq8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456950/original/file-20220407-14-misq8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456950/original/file-20220407-14-misq8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456950/original/file-20220407-14-misq8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Pope Francis in Bolivia in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BoliviaPopeSouthAmerica/3b58344f06f5490ea00dc74698e88191/photo?Query=pope%20francis%20bolivia&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=674&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo</a></span>
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<p>In this apology, Francis spoke for the entire church, even though the acts of colonialism began several centuries earlier. This apology affirmed the universal nature of the church, as well as Bolivians’ unique suffering, by Francis apologizing on Bolivian soil. Evo Morales, Bolivia’s former president, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/world/americas/pope-francis-bolivia-catholic-church-apology.html">responded to the apology</a>, saying, “For the first time, I feel like I have a pope: Pope Francis.” </p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>From my perspective, Francis’ apology regarding residential schools <a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-franciss-apology-for-residential-schools-doesnt-acknowledge-institutional-responsibility-180526">walks a line</a> between prior broad and specific apologies. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/francis-apology-full-text-1.6404953">He stated</a>, “For the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God’s forgiveness, and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry.” In saying so, he placed a distance between himself and those “members of the Catholic Church” responsible for the abuse.</p>
<h2>Apologies are actions</h2>
<p>To be sure, there are those who say that actions are more important than words and that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/15904027-how-much-apology-pope-mean-you">papal apologies are hollow without corresponding actions</a>. While there are certainly actions that are necessary to repair and restore justice, I argue that it is also important to recognize that apologizing is itself an action.</p>
<p>The actions of a world leader such as the pope matter. Apologies are known to be one step in restorative justice. For example, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s “<a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">Calls to Action</a>” document includes a call for an apology from the church.</p>
<p>Papal apologies may not say everything, but they do say something important. As the head of the Roman Catholic Church and a world leader, the pope apologizes both to the church and on behalf of the church to the world. These apologies are necessary starting points on the path to forgiveness and healing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180768/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie Selak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A Catholic theologian writes about why papal apologies can be meaningful, even when some may see them as mere words.Annie Selak, Associate Director, Women's Center, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1709842021-11-23T16:32:15Z2021-11-23T16:32:15ZIndian Residential Schools: What does it mean if the Pope apologizes in Canada?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432951/original/file-20211121-21-ptnrun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C320%2C5880%2C3620&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis incenses the altar as he celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, in November 2020.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Vincenzo Pinto/Pool via AP)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/indian-residential-schools--what-does-it-mean-if-the-pope-apologizes-in-canada" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC)’s <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">call to action No. 58 asks the pope to</a> “issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children in Catholic-run residential schools,” and to journey to Canada for this purpose. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-theological-reason-why-the-catholic-church-is-reticent-to/">Pope Francis has not yet provided such an apology</a>. Now, he looks to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/27/pope-francis-canada-visit-indigenous-leaders-seek-apology">taking steps to do so</a>. </p>
<p>Regrettably, these steps were only taken after the media spotlighted <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8074453/indigenous-residential-schools-canada-graves-map/">unmarked graves</a> at multiple sites of former Indian Residential Schools, including news of the discovery of 215 unmarked graves identified by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/pope-residential-schools-vatican-observers-1.6057873">at the former Catholic-run Kamloops Indian Residential School</a>.</p>
<p>On request, I — a settler academic with doctoral training, teaching and research experience in both Christian ethics and peace and conflict studies — am addressing the question of the significance of a potential papal apology in Canada. In both Christian ethics and peace and conflict studies, I have engaged Catholic traditions. </p>
<p>I live on Treaty Six Nehiyaw territory and the homeland of the Métis, and work here as a settler Catholic with Indigenous colleagues as part of a team trying to indigenize St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan.</p>
<h2>Need for an apology undertaken in a good way</h2>
<p>If a papal apology in Canada can alleviate some of the ongoing suffering of residential school survivors, their descendants and communities, and help build and rebuild relationships among settler Catholics, Indigenous Catholics and other Indigenous people, that is its most poignant significance. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-residential-school-findings-how-diverse-indigenous-communities-deal-with-grief-and-healing-163415">Indian Residential School findings: How diverse Indigenous communities deal with grief and healing</a>
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<p>Pope Francis himself will not be able to sustain the necessary relationships for this level of conciliation and reconciliation. But his apology, if <a href="https://words.usask.ca/gmcte/2020/04/01/land-acknowledgements-a-reflection-5-years-after-the-trc-report/">done in “a good way”</a> can help remove barriers and contribute to <a href="https://www.primary-colours.ca/project_collections/19-re-conciliation">conciliation and reconciliation</a> along with other paths of dialogue and action. </p>
<p>Philosopher Nick Smith argues in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499258"><em>I Was Wrong</em></a> that an effective apology is characterized by providing a detailed recounting of the harms caused, agreeing to take blame for those harms, stopping participation in the harms and where possible, and appropriate, making recompense. </p>
<p>In integrating these steps, an effective apology will help transform harmful relationships. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Indigenous women of multiple generations are seen listening in a crowd with sombre faces." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432758/original/file-20211118-13-15zi623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432758/original/file-20211118-13-15zi623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432758/original/file-20211118-13-15zi623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432758/original/file-20211118-13-15zi623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432758/original/file-20211118-13-15zi623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432758/original/file-20211118-13-15zi623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432758/original/file-20211118-13-15zi623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kamloops Indian Residential School survivor Camille Kenoras, back left, listens as drummers play during a TkÕemlœps te SecwŽpemc ceremony to honour residential school survivors and mark the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, in Kamloops, B.C., on Sept. 30, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
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<h2>Some blocks and barriers</h2>
<p>There are barriers to this transformative potential. One is Catholics’ instinct that their <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/10/22/can-church-be-both-holy-and-sinful">church is holy and only its members can be sinners</a>. Reforms in the <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/ecso/17/3/article-p369_369.xml">1960s opened ways to understand the Catholic Church</a> differently, including as people on a collective journey and, thus, to confront corporate sin within the institution. However, as some theologians argue, <a href="https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/confronting-a-sinful-church">attributing only holiness to the church continues to be a block</a> to accepting collective responsibility on the institutional level in Catholic cultures.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/catholic-church-response-to-sexual-abuse-must-centre-on-survivor-well-being-not-defensiveness-162417">Catholic Church response to sexual abuse must centre on survivor well-being, not defensiveness</a>
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<p>Another argument circulating among Catholic faith leaders has been that there was, strictly speaking, no “Catholic Church” involvement in Indian Residential Schools — just the <a href="https://www.archtoronto.org/en/outreach/news/archdiocesan/background-for-catholics-residential-schools/">involvement of certain Roman Catholic orders and some particular dioceses</a> — and that the key entities involved, <a href="https://omilacombe.ca/indian-residential-schools-missionary-oblates-mary-immaculate-q/">notably the Oblates, had already apologized</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men, one Indigenous with longer hair in a suit, and one white man in a clerical priest's collar, sit together." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432746/original/file-20211118-24-ylyalx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432746/original/file-20211118-24-ylyalx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432746/original/file-20211118-24-ylyalx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432746/original/file-20211118-24-ylyalx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432746/original/file-20211118-24-ylyalx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432746/original/file-20211118-24-ylyalx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432746/original/file-20211118-24-ylyalx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine, left, and Archbishop James Weisgerber take part in a press conference in Ottawa in April 2009, to announce that the Assembly of First Nations was sending a delegation to meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
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<p>In face of the TRC’s call for the pope to apologize, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/phil-fontaine-bishops-conference-letter-pope-apology-1.4624122">the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops</a> and some <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/raymond-j-de-souza-it-is-historically-inaccurate-to-suggest-the-catholic-church-hasnt-apologized-for-residential-schools">Catholic commentators</a> have highlighted a 2009 meeting with delegates from the Assembly of First Nations and Pope Benedict XVI. On that occasion, Pope Benedict XVI made an “<a href="https://archive.org/details/PhilFontaineMeaningOfReconciliationArchive">expression of regret</a>.” Certain Catholic faith leaders have implied that this <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/2021/06/06/pope-addresses-sorrows-of-residential-schools-does-not-apologize-in-public-prayer.html">closes the question of a papal apology</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-apology-for-abuse-in-chile-would-once-have-been-unthinkable-94958">Pope Francis' apology for abuse in Chile would once have been unthinkable</a>
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<p>While some Catholics continue to advance these arguments today, they preceded the TRC’s final report. As is evident in the report, its authors were clearly aware of the arguments and found them unsatisfactory. </p>
<p>A more tempered statement engaging the Canadian context that Pope Francis issued from a balcony <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/06/06/not-an-apology-popes-statement-on-residential-school-deaths-angers-those-seeking-accountability-from-church.html">at the Vatican</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/pope-residential-schools-vatican-observers-1.6057873">in June was also not sufficient</a> in relation to call for action No. 58.</p>
<p>Finally acknowledging as much, the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops has now <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2021/10/27/0699/01486.html">invited the Pope to come to this country, and he has indicated</a> a willingness to accept. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6ALrM17gzhE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">CBC news video about the pope’s comments following the discovery of graves of 215 Indigenous children at the former Kamloops Indian residential school.</span></figcaption>
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<p>This follows quite a time after the call to action No. 58 and the expressed wishes of <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/indigenous-leaders-call-for-formal-apology-from-the-pope-and-catholic-church/vi-AAKPHWj">Indigenous leaders</a>, other <a href="https://apnews.com/article/canada-1393993d248c99d7e929448eb4234a31">politicians, including the prime minister</a> and <a href="https://stmikes.utoronto.ca/news/accuc-statement-on-news-of-papal-visit">Catholic educational leaders</a>. A papal apology in Canada has now emerged as a tangible possibility. </p>
<h2>Many paths to walk upon</h2>
<p>Our Catholic college’s <a href="https://stmcollege.ca/academic-initiatives/centres/centre-for-faith,-reason,-peace,-and-justice.php">Centre for Faith, Reason, Peace and Justice</a> co-hosted a webinar in June. There, as part of a wide-ranging conversation, <a href="https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/awards-distinctions/honorary-doctorate/campbell.html">Cree-Métis grandmother, writer, playwright, filmmaker, scholar, teacher, activist and elder Maria Campbell</a> addressed the topic of a papal apology.</p>
<p>She plainly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhutx5MqeMk&t=3294s">stated that such an apology ultimately does not matter as the pope is just “a man.”</a></p>
<p>One implication I drew from Campbell’s words and other insights she and her fellow panellists shared was that whether or not a papal apology is forthcoming, there are many paths of “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html">dialogue and action</a>” that settler Catholics can and must walk upon to contribute to the much needed work of conciliation and reconciliation in Canada. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People are seen in orange t-shirts, some wearing ribbon skirts, walking in the street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432757/original/file-20211118-18-1pho17b.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432757/original/file-20211118-18-1pho17b.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432757/original/file-20211118-18-1pho17b.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432757/original/file-20211118-18-1pho17b.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432757/original/file-20211118-18-1pho17b.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432757/original/file-20211118-18-1pho17b.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432757/original/file-20211118-18-1pho17b.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People walk at the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation ceremonies left Parliament Hill, Sept. 30, 2021, in Ottawa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some examples are finding concrete ways to live out <a href="https://www.cccb.ca/indigenous-peoples/resources/doctrine-of-discovery-and-terra-nullius/">the TRC’s calls to repudiate concepts used to justify European domination over Indigenous Peoples and lands (like the doctrine of discovery)</a> and unambiguously meeting the Catholic Church’s financial obligations committed to as part of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/residential-school-survivors-compensation-papal-visit-1.6237418">the Indian Residential Schools settlement agreement</a>, including by redirecting resources and selling property currently earmarked for other aspects of its mission in Canada. </p>
<h2>Ethical failings</h2>
<p>Even if the papal apology in Canada unfolds in a good way, it will nonetheless be unduly late. </p>
<p>To cite an important instance, the contrast is evident with the <a href="https://united-church.ca/social-action/justice-initiatives/reconciliation-and-indigenous-justice/apologies">United Church of Canada’s response to its participation</a> in Indian Residential Schools and colonization, in general. </p>
<p>For some non-Catholics and Catholics alike, this gap and the deeper ethical failings it points to bring into question the continued “moral authenticity” of the Roman Catholic Church: how closely the church reflects, embodies and allows people to hear the Christian gospel of love. In theological ethical thinking, this necessarily encompasses obligations <a href="https://criticaltheologynet.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/ecumenist_2016-v53-no4.pdf">to human neighbours and the natural world</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holds an eagle feather above her head in front of a copy of a report." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432873/original/file-20211119-19-1ohlmfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432873/original/file-20211119-19-1ohlmfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432873/original/file-20211119-19-1ohlmfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432873/original/file-20211119-19-1ohlmfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432873/original/file-20211119-19-1ohlmfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432873/original/file-20211119-19-1ohlmfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432873/original/file-20211119-19-1ohlmfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Residential school survivor Madeleine Basile holds up an eagle feather as she speaks during the release of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation commission, December 2015, in Ottawa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/06/09/a-look-at-popes-and-their-encyclicals/">his papal letter</a> about connections between social justice and ecological health, Pope Francis teaches “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html">it is essential to show special care for Indigenous communities and their cultural traditions. They are not merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners</a>.” </p>
<p>Considering this ethical gap, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-amid-shameful-residential-school-revelations-i-cannot-remain-a">some Catholics with</a> lifelong and vocational commitments <a href="https://broadview.org/why-i-decided-to-leave-the-catholic-church-in-my-60s/">to their church have left it</a>, or are questioning what it means if they remain part of an inauthentic institution. Others have recommitted to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-catholics-forced-to-choose-between-conscience-and-church-on-the-topic/">organizing, advocacy</a> and education for <a href="https://www.catholics4tr.com/">truth and reconciliation</a>. </p>
<h2>Demands of the moment</h2>
<p>Done in a good way, an apology will allow the institutional Catholic Church, through its most prominent faith leader, to regain a measure of authenticity by repenting from its sins — sins that include perpetuating cultural genocide, enabling multilayered abuse and the premature, avoidable deaths of children in Catholic-run Indian Residential Schools. </p>
<p>Returning to Smith’s framework, if Pope Francis comes to Canada to apologize, he will need to recount the harms to residential school survivors. He must unreservedly accept blame on behalf of both the institutional Catholic Church and settler Catholics. And he will have to disavow the continuing participating of settler Catholics and the Catholic church in colonial practices in Canada. </p>
<p>If certain bishops are barriers, then other Catholics will have to have come forward with the courage to intervene and ensure that proper recompense is made for the harms caused in Catholic-run Indian Residential Schools. These Catholics will also need to exercise <a href="https://www.scsba.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/CCCB_Co-responsibility-of-the-Lay-Faithful_EN-web.pdf">their responsibilities</a> for the life of the church by making their informed views known to their bishops and in their communities and by seeking to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-synod-of-bishops-a-catholic-priest-and-theologian-explains-168937">participate in global church consultations</a>. </p>
<p>The upcoming visit of <a href="https://www.afn.ca/assembly-of-first-nations-finalizing-preparations-for-delegation-to-visit-with-pope-francis-at-the-vatican-in-december-2021/">a delegation of Indigenous people to the Vatican</a> is a chance for Pope Francis to consult and learn through face-to-face dialogue about how to take on this task in a good way. </p>
<p>The poorly justified wait for a papal apology in Canada may be too late but not too little if it can animate truth and reconciliation, while contributing to the healing of residential school survivors.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170984/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Hrynkow is a practicing Catholic.</span></em></p>A papal apology, if done in ‘a good way,’ could help remove barriers to transforming harmful relationships between Indigenous Peoples and the Catholic Church.Christopher Hrynkow, Professor and Department Head, Department of Religion and Culture, St. Thomas More College, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1584012021-04-07T18:41:18Z2021-04-07T18:41:18ZPower imbalances are at the root of sexual harassment – but statements like Andrew Cuomo’s don’t acknowledge that inconvenient fact<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393423/original/file-20210405-15-datdef.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C17%2C3848%2C2589&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faces an investigation over an alleged pattern of sexually harassing and intimidating women employees.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/new-york-governor-andrew-cuomo-speaks-at-rochdale-village-news-photo/1232129893?adppopup=true">Brendan McDermid/Pool/AFP/via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent weeks, multiple women have reported <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/cuomo-sexual-harassment-nursing-homes-covid-19.html">demeaning and sexualized workplace behavior by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo</a>. In response, Cuomo has issued <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-andrew-m-cuomo-209">a combination of denials</a>, <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?509520-1/york-governor-cuomo-apologizes-actions-resign">defenses</a> and <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?509520-1/york-governor-cuomo-apologizes-actions-resign">apologies</a>.</p>
<p>Much of the public analysis of his statements has focused on the adequacy of these apologies – <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-york-gov-cuomo-is-the-textbook-example-of-how-not-to-apologize-156474">whether he took sufficient responsibility or expressed sufficient remorse</a>.</p>
<p>Apologies deserve attention. They can help right wrongs and heal relationships. </p>
<p>Yet in the focus on apologies, an opportunity is missed to learn something about power. Power, after all, is at the heart of sexual harassment.</p>
<h2>‘Unwanted imposition’</h2>
<p>As Catharine MacKinnon, the architect of modern sexual harassment law, has argued, sexual misconduct at work can be defined as “<a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300022995/sexual-harassment-working-women">the unwanted imposition of sexual requirements in the context of a relationship of unequal power</a>.” </p>
<p>If responses like Cuomo’s are viewed through a power-informed lens, different patterns emerge. In my own study of over 200 such statements, I found many references to the accused’s own <a href="https://texaslawreview.org/sorry-not-sorry-decoding-metoo-defenses/">long careers, to their many professional accomplishments, and to their excellent reputations</a>. In short, when challenged, the men in my study (and all but three were men) did what came naturally: They reached for their power.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393425/original/file-20210405-23-rmj75.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman who has accused Cuomo of sexual harassment speaks at a public gathering in New York City." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393425/original/file-20210405-23-rmj75.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393425/original/file-20210405-23-rmj75.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393425/original/file-20210405-23-rmj75.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393425/original/file-20210405-23-rmj75.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393425/original/file-20210405-23-rmj75.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393425/original/file-20210405-23-rmj75.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393425/original/file-20210405-23-rmj75.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lindsey Boylan, a former state economic development adviser for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, accused Cuomo of sexual harassment that she said took place in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CuomoSexualHarassmentAllegations/25648a47af4c4df3bbacd93991e887d5/photo?Query=Andrew%20AND%20Cuomo&mediaType=photo,graphic&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7441&currentItemNo=48">Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP Photos</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This pattern is connected to another theme that I discovered in the statements I studied: repetition of explanations and defenses centered on the accused person’s own subjective intent and perceptions.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2018/07/02/andy-dick-charged-groping-woman-los-angeles-street/753104002/">It’s me being funny. I’m not trying to sexually harass people</a>,” for example, or “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/in-wake-of-post-allegations-a-music-director-leaves-the-field/2018/08/01/1fa4477a-95b9-11e8-80e1-00e80e1fdf43_story.html">I come from a very different culture</a>,” or “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/richard-dreyfuss-behaved-inappropriately-woman-80s/story?id=51073059">I remember trying to kiss [her] as part of what I thought was a consensual seduction ritual</a>.” </p>
<p>However, the accused’s intentions, thoughts or beliefs – so central in the statements I studied – are only peripheral under sexual harassment law.</p>
<h2>Not a joke</h2>
<p>Under <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964">Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>, the main federal law that covers workplace discrimination and harassment, an employee may sue her employer when she has experienced <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/477/57">severe or pervasive</a> workplace harassment. </p>
<p>Severity and pervasiveness are judged subjectively, from the harassed person’s point of view, and objectively, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-1168.ZO.html">in the view of a theoretical “reasonable person</a>.” The law also requires that the conduct be <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/477/57">unwelcomed</a> by the harassed person. </p>
<p>Though different courts have interpreted these requirements differently around the edges, sexual harassment cases do not turn on whether the harasser thought his conduct was a joke, or culturally acceptable, or ritualized seduction.</p>
<p>Instead, the law’s subjectivity and “welcomeness” requirements ask a superior – like Cuomo – to evaluate his own conduct from his subordinate’s point of view. Superiors who want to avoid committing harassment to begin with (before anything gets to a judge, jury, or media story) need to step outside their own perspective. </p>
<p>This requires empathy. And the more power that a person wields in the workplace, the more difficult it may be to step outside one’s own position and consider the circumstances from another person’s perspective.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bW3iJt9WR6c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Cuomo responds to the accusations against him.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘I never intended’</h2>
<p>Here is where Cuomo’s responses are revealing. </p>
<p>In his first official statement, released on Feb. 28, 2021, <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-andrew-m-cuomo-209">out of 18 “I” statements</a>, over half were versions of “I never intended,” “I was being playful,” or “I do, on occasion, tease people.” </p>
<p>Cuomo <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?509520-1/york-governor-cuomo-apologizes-actions-resign">followed suit in his press conference</a> on March 3, repeating over and over variations on the “I never intended” or “I never knew” or “I didn’t mean it that way” theme. </p>
<p>These statements suggest that, over his long career, Cuomo did not pay attention to the effects of his words and actions on his subordinates, and that the power of his position may have reinforced his heedlessness. </p>
<p>The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warns about just this type of scenario in its <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/chart-risk-factors-harassment-and-responsive-strategies">list of harassment risk factors</a>: “High value employees may perceive themselves as exempt from workplace rules or immune from consequences of their misconduct.” Workplaces with significant power imbalances, too, make the risk factor list.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>If the movement sparked by #MeToo focuses only on taking down individual bad actors, it will leave intact the <a href="https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/reconceptualizing-sexual-harassment-again">workplace structures</a> that enable and protect the powerful – and that produce statements like Cuomo’s. Ending sexual harassment requires a critical rethinking of workplace power, whether it flows from ownership of a company, management of an office, supervision of a shop floor or the office of the governor.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte Alexander receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Men accused of sexual harassment, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, often refer to their accomplishments in their responses. Their power is their defense, and it blinds them to their victims’ suffering.Charlotte Alexander, Associate Professor of Law and Analytics, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1564742021-03-08T21:12:15Z2021-03-08T21:12:15ZNew York Gov. Cuomo is the textbook example of how not to apologize<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388339/original/file-20210308-16-xvqniv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C23%2C1925%2C1047&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cuomo deflected responsibility during his public apology.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CuomoSexualHarassment/83bc96728ef24300a35dcfb4db55d942/photo?Query=cuomo&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=8641&currentItemNo=43">Office of the NY Governor via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s two apologies for alleged sexual misconduct are straight out of a master class in how not to say you’re sorry. </p>
<p>The governor, who had become <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/24/820270978/new-york-gov-andrew-cuomo-takes-the-spotlight-in-coronavirus-response">something of a celebrity</a> during his nationally broadcast press conferences early in the coronavirus pandemic, is now embroiled in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/03/nyregion/cuomo-sexual-harassment-scandal-apology-non-resignation.html">sexual harassment scandal</a> involving <a href="https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/03/09/ana-liss-andrew-cuomo-accusations/">six female accusers</a>. This comes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/04/nyregion/cuomo-nursing-home-deaths.html">amid the disclosure</a> that Cuomo’s administration intentionally underreported the number of nursing home residents in New York who died of COVID-19. </p>
<p>After <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-andrew-m-cuomo-209">first issuing just a statement</a> on Feb. 28 that failed to calm the furor about the sexual harassment allegations, he <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?509520-1/york-governor-cuomo-apologizes-actions-resign">held a press conference</a> three days later in which he publicly apologized for making potentially offensive comments but denied allegations about inappropriate touching. </p>
<p>Both “apologies” <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Rosie-Perez-Cuomo-s-apology-an-admission-of-15993161.phpp">were widely panned</a> and <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-cuomo-apology-charlotte-bennett-20210301-6ozf4zfgcbcsfmxyutrfp3xfxm-story.html">left victims</a>, <a href="https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2021/03/04/-a-performance-worthy-of-an-emmy----cuomo-s-apology-falls-flat">Cuomo’s critics</a> and <a href="https://13wham.com/news/local/local-lawmakers-unimpressed-with-cuomos-apology-following-sex-harassment-claims">even some of his supporters</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/03/parsing-andrew-cuomos-apology">unsatisfied</a>. The Democratic leader of the state Senate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/nyregion/cuomo-sex-harassment.html">called on him to resign</a>. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/people/lisa-leopold">English language studies professor</a> who has analyzed the language of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-say-im-sorry-whether-youve-appeared-in-a-racist-photo-harassed-women-or-just-plain-screwed-up-107678">public apologies</a>, I believe Cuomo’s efforts can provide some value at least: They demonstrate perfectly what you shouldn’t do when you want to show a loved one, a colleague or your constituents that you’re sorry for something you did wrong. </p>
<h2>1. Do not deny, obfuscate or minimize wrongdoing</h2>
<p>Even as he apologized, Cuomo did his best to leave people with the impression he didn’t do anything wrong. </p>
<p>To his credit, he didn’t deny everything. But he used <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.11.007">another common tactic of someone who is only reluctantly apologizing</a>: He conceded to part but not all of the offense by acknowledging potentially inappropriate remarks but denying inappropriate touching. This blurs the nature of the offense and is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.11.007">classic way public figures apologize</a> when they wish to avoid shouldering full responsibility. </p>
<p>He also reverses the role of perpetrator and victim. Describing his actions as “playful” and “good-natured,” Cuomo alludes to his own “hurt” and said that his words were “misinterpreted,” thereby assigning some culpability to his accusers for their oversensitivity. </p>
<p>Finally, Cuomo depicted his behavior in vague, neutral terms such as “interactions” or “it.” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.05.014">Research shows</a> that this tactic avoids explicitly naming the transgression someone’s accused of and weakens an apology. Cuomo used subjunctive language like “may have been” rather than “were” when describing his actions as “too personal,” which <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">weakens the apology by making the transgression hypothetical</a>. He further minimized wrongdoing by emphasizing his innocent intentions over a dozen times in the two apologies, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.11.007">another common tactic</a>. </p>
<p><iframe id="VUtb1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/VUtb1/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Research underscores just how important acknowledging wrongdoing is. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025068306386">A study comparing various apology strategies</a> showed that a clear statement of apology such as “I’m sorry for …” made the most difference in the audience’s assessment of the apology’s appropriateness. </p>
<p>Other studies have emphasized the importance of specifically naming the transgression for the apology to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.05.014">demonstrate responsibility</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.01.001">be effective</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Do not distance yourself from the wrongdoing</h2>
<p>Cuomo also deflected responsibility by using passive and conditional words – “if they were offended” – as well as euphemisms. For example, he expressed embarrassment for “what happened” as though he was not responsible.</p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">passive</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.05.014">conditional</a> language <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110214468">weakens apologies</a> since it allows transgressors not to own up to their transgressions.</p>
<p>He also diverted attention to his own self-improvement at the expense of his victims’ pain by stating, “I will be the better from this experience.”</p>
<p>Studies show that explicitly claiming responsibility for the offense is critical for both <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/cross-cultural-pragmatics-requests-and-apologies/oclc/556370037">personal</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">public</a> apologies to be considered valid. When at fault, people making an apology should <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277765449_Apologising_in_British_English">avoid attributing blame</a> to anyone or anything other than themselves. That means framing the apology in the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">active voice</a> and using <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.11.022">“I” statements</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Apologize for your actions – not others’ feelings</h2>
<p>“To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.” </p>
<p>Cuomo leaves ambiguous whether he intends “sorry” to express an apology or sympathy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.11.007">a tactic</a> public figures may use to express regret while evading culpability. </p>
<p>Apologizing for the outcome – someone being hurt – rather than the act that caused it lessens the transgressor’s responsibility by <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1177/1350508410367840">placing some blame</a> on victims for their sensitivity, which further weakens its sincerity. Even Cuomo’s use of the word “that” at the end of the sentence above avoids explicit characterization of the offense, which research shows is <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.3370.9285">another way</a> to distance oneself from the transgression. </p>
<p>Apologists should refrain from apologizing for others’ pain without <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508410367840">claiming ownership</a> for the behavior that caused the pain.</p>
<h2>4. Do express empathy and remorse</h2>
<p>While Cuomo showed what not to do when making an apology, David Neeleman, former CEO of JetBlue Airlines, demonstrated <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1510/his-apology-letter.pdf?1615303244">how to do it effectively</a>. The apology came in 2007, after an <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18234117">operational snafu during a winter storm</a> caused the cancellation of over 1,000 flghts and left some customers stuck in airplanes on the ground for up to 10 hours. </p>
<p>In a statement, Neeleman clearly expressed empathy and remorse to the tens of thousands of customers affected.</p>
<p>“Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that you, your family, friends and colleagues experienced,” he said. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">Psychologists</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.11.022">linguists</a> have documented just how important showing empathy is in an apology, as is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.02.003">exhibiting deep remorse</a>. Needless to say, Cuomo did not do either well.</p>
<p>While Cuomo’s remorse is clouded by his pleas of innocent intentions, Neeleman said he was “deeply sorry” and regretted having “failed to deliver on this promise.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Relations-in-Public-Microstudies-of-the-Public-Order/Goffman/p/book/9781412810067">Erving Goffman</a>, an early pioneer in apology research, emphasized that denial, deflection and minimization do not mix well with empathy and remorse. To express empathy and remorse in your next apology, focus on healing the offended party’s pain by acknowledging, not minimizing, it.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Leopold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cuomo used language that people forced to apologize often deploy to avoid taking responsibility and show genuine contrition. An expert on public apologies suggests three don'ts and a do.Lisa Leopold, Associate Professor of English Language Studies, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233372019-10-02T21:47:18Z2019-10-02T21:47:18ZWhy is it so hard for your doctor to apologize?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295121/original/file-20191001-173337-1fcjcuq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=448%2C269%2C6073%2C4148&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A culture of perfectionism that begins in medical school is one reason why doctors and other medical professionals struggle to apologize for their mistakes. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’ve just undergone surgery. Somehow, a mistake was made. Perhaps the preparation was inadequate or perhaps there was miscommunication. The result is that you were harmed when you expected to be healed.</p>
<p>Hurt, angry and scared, you look to your doctor and ask: “What now? What do you have to say?” And they are silent.</p>
<p>Medical errors like this occur regularly. One report estimates that <a href="https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/cihi_cpsi_hospital_harm_en.pdf">for every 18 hospitalizations in Canada, one patient will experience harm</a>. Yet, doctors are hesitant to apologize for medical mistakes. </p>
<p>This occurs despite the fact that <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/52fmm">nine provinces</a> and <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/524p8">two territories</a> in Canada have “<a href="http://canlii.ca/t/kx9p">apology legislation.</a>” <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/52pn4">This legislation</a> allows doctors, and other medical professionals, to <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/539l9">apologize to patients</a> when <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/k5xb">things go wrong</a> without having this used as evidence of fault in court. <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/k94m">These laws</a> are designed to <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/jx9q">transform relationships</a> in medicine for the better by <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/53646">restoring trust</a> between <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/5385t">patients and clinicians</a>. </p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/on-apology-9780195189117?cc=ca&lang=en&">medical apologies help repair the relationship and sense of trust between patients and medical professionals</a>. So why is it so hard for your doctor to apologize?</p>
<h2>Fear of litigation and loss of respect</h2>
<p>To investigate the impacts and difficulties surrounding medical apology, we’ve <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423918000227">conducted research on medical apologies</a> over the last two years. </p>
<p>Most recently, we have interviewed a variety of stakeholders including patients, caregivers, medical doctors, psychologists, patient safety advocates, medical school administrators and health-care administrators on their experiences with medical error and apology. </p>
<p>We heard from doctors and other medical professionals who wished to apologize but were constrained by different social and professional factors. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295123/original/file-20191001-173337-hdl8zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295123/original/file-20191001-173337-hdl8zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295123/original/file-20191001-173337-hdl8zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295123/original/file-20191001-173337-hdl8zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295123/original/file-20191001-173337-hdl8zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295123/original/file-20191001-173337-hdl8zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295123/original/file-20191001-173337-hdl8zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research shows that one out of every 18 hospitalized patients in Canada will experience harm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our preliminary results show that clinicians receive mixed messages on the topic of apology. Some messages are rooted in an understanding of the apology legislation and provide a supportive environment to allow an apology to the patient to occur. </p>
<p>Other messages are rooted in fear of litigation, loss of insurance coverage, loss of respect, a culture of perfectionism that starts in medical training and a feeling of shame about harming a patient. As one senior medical professional said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Physicians are not designed to make mistakes … they see it as a horrific personal failure when… they have made an error. So it is a huge trauma to physicians.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>An apology is healing</h2>
<p>Our research shows that apologizing for medical errors is a crucially important step in healing — for patients, families and medical professionals. </p>
<p>Apologizing helps validate the harms experienced by patients, and helps doctors come to terms with their mistake and restore confidence in their practice. One patient participant in our study said that an apology is healing and that in the trauma of a critical incident, people expect apologies:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“You do something wrong, you apologize.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Apologizing involves empathizing with patients and maintaining the integrity of medical relationships. As one senior doctor said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“From my point of view, the benefits of having apology legislation …is (to) allow you to take a different perspective in (your) relationship with patients… If that relationship is honest and fulsome… it provides you with an opportunity to feel it how the patient feels, or at least close to it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295125/original/file-20191001-173358-1yl3cem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295125/original/file-20191001-173358-1yl3cem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295125/original/file-20191001-173358-1yl3cem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295125/original/file-20191001-173358-1yl3cem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295125/original/file-20191001-173358-1yl3cem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295125/original/file-20191001-173358-1yl3cem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295125/original/file-20191001-173358-1yl3cem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An apology can strengthen a medical relationship.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Forgiveness is not guaranteed</h2>
<p>If there is no apology, or there is a poor-quality apology, this has a detrimental effect on the relationship between a patient, their family and their doctor, and on the sense of trust the patient and family place in medical institutions. </p>
<p>The absence of apology also leaves patients and families in a communicative vacuum and fails to recognize the ongoing harms and trauma resulting from error. </p>
<p>To be sure, apologies are not a cure-all for harms resulting from a medical error, and forgiveness cannot be guaranteed. </p>
<p>Litigation and medical apology are also not mutually exclusive. While an apology is given, litigation may still be needed — especially if the medical error resulted in an inability to work, or death. But silence after an error is profoundly detrimental. </p>
<p>When a meaningful apology is given after an error, it can promote healing, strengthen medical relationships and transform our understanding of care in medical spaces.</p>
<p>More work is needed to help medical professionals understand the protections of apology legislation and the benefits of apologizing. In doing so, <a href="https://www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca/en/Events/cpsw/Pages/default.aspx">we can conquer the silence.</a></p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dempsey Wilford receives funding from The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona MacDonald receives funding from The BC Law Foundation, The Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety, The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, The University of the Fraser Valley. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karine Levasseur receives funding from the University of Manitoba (SSHRC TGP) and the Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety through the Dr. J. Wade Patient Safety Initiatives Grant.</span></em></p>Despite protective apology legislation across Canada, many doctors and other health-care professionals remain too afraid or ashamed to apologize after medical errors.Dempsey Wilford, Research assistant in Political Science, University of VictoriaFiona MacDonald, Associate Professor and Department Head, Political Science, University of The Fraser ValleyKarine Levasseur, Associate Professor of Political Studies, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1239712019-09-23T11:34:59Z2019-09-23T11:34:59Z3 tips for Justin Trudeau on how to say ‘I’m sorry’<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>These two words may seem simple, but the ability to express them when you’re in the wrong is anything but – particularly for those in the public eye. </p>
<p>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to name a recent example, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/09/20/justin-trudeau-says-hell-ban-military-style-weapons/2388136001/">had to apologize several times</a> since a photo and a video of him in brownface and blackface makeup surfaced recently. Trudeau’s troubles echo Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/democrats-call-on-northam-to-resign/index.html">difficulty</a> apologizing for a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ralph-northam-response-racist-yearbook-photo_us_5c54bca6e4b0871047536bed">photo on his medical school yearbook page</a> of a man in blackface and another wearing the dress of a Ku Klux Klan member.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/people/lisa-leopold">language scholar</a>, I’ve tried to get to the bottom of just what makes an apology effective by analyzing dozens of mea culpas. While some offered authentic apologies, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">many more seemed defensive</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/us/southwest-airlines-lindsay-gottlieb-biracial-baby-trnd/index.html">insincere</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">forced</a>.</p>
<p>With the help of insights from <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">linguists</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologists</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">business ethicists</a> who study apologies, I found that there are three main elements each needs to have to be effective.</p>
<h2>Not all apologies are equal</h2>
<p>Much is at stake with a public apology.</p>
<p>When done right, it can rebuild trust and <a href="https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0378216608003007/1-s2.0-S0378216608003007-main.pdf?_tid=65a4d09e-c6be-4eeb-a055-c41490e57dea&acdnat=1549406972_fcd23b7de5022a7f8239b687c7ee5a9d">restore a damaged reputation</a>. However, a poorly crafted apology can lead to widespread criticism and further damage credibility. <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/08/research-for-a-corporate-apology-to-work-the-ceo-should-look-sad">Research shows</a> that the <a href="https://on.ft.com/2DmdS1n">way a company crafts an apology</a> can even affect its future financial performance. Leaders who apologize <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225822507_Apologies_and_Transformational_Leadership">tend to be viewed more favorably</a> than those who don’t.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.moodypublishers.com/books/marriage-and-family/when-sorry-isnt-enough/">When Sorry Isn’t Enough: Making Things Right with Those You Love</a>,” Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas cite a survey of what people preferred in an apology. It found that almost four-fifths wanted their would-be penitent to either express regret or accept responsibility, as opposed to make restitution, repent or seek forgiveness. </p>
<p>In 2011, David Boyd, now dean emeritus at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">identified seven strategies</a> that make public apologies effective. I believe three of them – revelation, responsibility and recognition – are the most significant because they overlap with those identified by prominent scholars in other fields, including <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/umn.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dW1uLmVkdXxhbmRyZXdkY29oZW58Z3g6MTRlNmUzYWUxMGJmZjMxZg">linguists Andrew Cohen and Elite Olshtain</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologist Robert Gordon</a>. </p>
<p>That is, an admission for the lapse using the words “I am sorry” or “I apologize,” ownership for the offense and empathy for those who have been hurt all contribute to an effective apology. But it’s not enough for an apology just to contain these three ingredients. It’s also about the exact wording used.</p>
<p>In my analysis of infamous public apologies that celebrities, CEOs and political figures have delivered over the past two years, I was looking for how they fared according to Boyd’s standards of revelation, responsibility and recognition. I also closely examined the language of each apology, applying many insights from linguist Edwin Battistella’s book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology</a>.”</p>
<h2>1. ‘I am sorry’</h2>
<p>This may seem obvious but sadly isn’t: Any respectable apology must include an actual apology with a specific acknowledgment of what was done. Surprisingly, some people attempting to own up to something never get around to actually apologizing. </p>
<p>Comedian Louis C.K., for example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/arts/television/louis-ck-statement.html">never actually used words</a> like “apologize” or “sorry” after <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/television/louis-ck-sexual-misconduct.html?module=inline">being accused of sexual misconduct</a> by several women. He called the stories “true” and said he was “remorseful” but dodged the actual apology. </p>
<p>Others try to apologize in a general way to avoid being pinned down to a specific transgression, weakening the impact. Or they may admit to a lesser offense. A case in point is <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/28/apple-apologizes-for-not-being-clearer-about-slowing-down-iphones-with-older-batteries/">Apple’s non-apology apology</a> in December 2017 over the performance of iPhone batteries.</p>
<p>“We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process,” the company said. “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize.”</p>
<p>Was Apple apologizing for the poor-performing batteries, its communication process or the feelings of its customers? Distancing the actual apology from the transgressions is a common tactic in corporate apologies, used in recent years both by <a href="https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Discrimination-and-Belonging/td-p/191832">Airbnb</a> and <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2018/04/16/uber-tries-to-make-nice-with-the-city-of-portland.html">Uber</a> as well.</p>
<h2>2. ‘I did it’</h2>
<p>Any well-crafted apology must claim responsibility for the transgression – not attribute one’s actions to happenstance or external factors.</p>
<p>Amid the Cambridge Analytica scandal, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">Facebook</a> CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the passive voice to distance himself from any wrongdoing: “I’m really sorry that this happened,” he said in an interview to CNN.</p>
<p>That wasn’t the first time he used the passive voice this way. In an earlier <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-zuckerberg/zuckerberg-seeks-forgiveness-for-division-caused-by-his-work-idUSKCN1C61XY">apology issued in 2017</a> after Facebook was criticized for Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, he said, “For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better.” </p>
<p>The choice of the passive suggests that he has little control over the ways his work was used by others.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/charlierose/status/932747035069034496">Another example</a> is Charlie Rose, a television journalist <a href="https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/cbs-fired-charlie-rose-one-year-ago-today/385128">fired by CBS</a> following accusations of sexual misconduct. He issued an apology in the following manner: “I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too. All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives.”</p>
<p>By including himself as one of several people and embedding his actions as part of a broader group’s actions, he minimized responsibility for his own transgressions.</p>
<p>Others simply try to deflect attention from the transgression as part of an apology, as actor <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinSpacey/status/924848412842971136">Kevin Spacey</a> did when he announced his sexual orientation instead of apologizing over accusations he sexually assaulted a massage therapist, or like disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">vow to direct his anger to the National Rifle Association</a> when he was accused of sexual misconduct.</p>
<p>In contrast, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson in April 2018 gave an <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/views/a-follow-up-message-from-starbucks-ceo-in-philadelphia">example of an apology</a> that takes real ownership after two African American men were arrested while waiting for a friend at one of his stores: “These two gentlemen did not deserve what happened, and we are accountable. I am accountable.”</p>
<h2>3. ‘I feel your pain’</h2>
<p>Finally, apologies should meet the standard of recognition: expressing empathy to those who have been hurt.</p>
<p>Many so-called apologies fail to acknowledge victims’ feelings, focusing instead on justifications or excuses. For example, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/entertainment/henry-cavill-me-too-apology/index.html">actor Henry Cavill apologized</a> for his controversial statements about the #MeToo movement by saying he’s sorry for “any confusion and misunderstanding that” his comments created. In doing so, he insinuated that there was no transgressor or victim, as more than one party is typically to blame for a misunderstanding.</p>
<p>Expressions of empathy are further weakened anytime a word such as “may” is used to cast doubt on whether the transgression had a negative impact on others. In <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russell-simmons-pens-response-sexual-assault-allegations-1061061">an apology issued</a> by the record producer Russell Simmons for sexual misconduct, his use of “may” ultimately suggests that women may or may not have been offended by his actions: “For any women from my past who I may have offended, I sincerely apologize. I am still evolving.”</p>
<p>Furthermore, those last four words show that he’s focusing on his own growth, rather than the pain of his victims.</p>
<p>So if you’re finding it difficult to parse the multitude of public apologies, look closely for these three ingredients, along with the language each uses. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-say-im-sorry-whether-youve-appeared-in-a-racist-photo-harassed-women-or-just-plain-screwed-up-107678">article originally published</a> on Feb. 8, 2019.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Leopold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Canadian prime minister is the latest public figure struggling to apologize for past misbehavior. A language scholar explains how to do it right.Lisa Leopold, Associate Professor of English Language Studies, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1195812019-07-15T20:29:59Z2019-07-15T20:29:59ZWhy reparations to African-Americans are necessary – how to start now<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284172/original/file-20190715-173329-hlia2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C144%2C776%2C771&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Five generations on Smith's Plantation Beaufort at South Carolina in 1862.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.00057">Timothy H. O'Sullivan/Library of Congress</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a 2016 poll, 58 per cent of African-Americans said they believed that the United States should pay financial reparations to African-Americans who are descendants of slaves. <a href="http://maristpoll.marist.edu/510-reparations-for-slavery-in-the-united-states/#sthash.RwCoJGU6.dpbs">Only 15 per cent of whites agreed</a>. </p>
<p>I am a white woman and I support reparations to African-Americans. I have published academic articles on the issue, including: <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/tjreview/vol1/iss1/9">“Official Apologies.”</a> I am the author of <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14448.html"><em>Reparations to Africa</em></a> and a co-editor of <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14377.html"><em>The Age of Apology</em></a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284163/original/file-20190715-173370-16gmegx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284163/original/file-20190715-173370-16gmegx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284163/original/file-20190715-173370-16gmegx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284163/original/file-20190715-173370-16gmegx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284163/original/file-20190715-173370-16gmegx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284163/original/file-20190715-173370-16gmegx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284163/original/file-20190715-173370-16gmegx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284163/original/file-20190715-173370-16gmegx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Africans of the slave bark</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Library of Congress</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2005, the United Nations <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/RemedyAndReparation.aspx">issued a short document which outlined the basic guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of gross violations of human rights law.</a> Financial compensation is one aspect of reparations mentioned in this document, but it is not the only one. Apology is important. So is commemoration and tributes to victims, and an accurate account of the violations.</p>
<p>Five years ago, author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a harrowing account of injustices to African-Americans in an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/">article for <em>The Atlantic</em></a>. These injustices occurred during the period of enslavement, but also the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights era and down to the present. </p>
<p>In his article, Coates called upon all Americans to acknowledge their “shameful history” including injustices of enslavement, terrorism, plunder and piracy committed against African-Americans. He wants all the facts to be accurately reported. </p>
<p>Accurate acknowledgement would be a first step in reparations. </p>
<p>Apology is a second step. </p>
<h2>Apologies</h2>
<p>So many governments, institutions and private businesses in the United States are implicated in slavery and post-1865 injustices that it would be impossible for them all to apologize at once. But a good start would be an apology for slavery by the president of the United States, joined by the governors of every state that ever permitted enslavement. </p>
<p>The text of the apology would have to be carefully negotiated with African-American community leaders. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284166/original/file-20190715-173329-1cup32v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284166/original/file-20190715-173329-1cup32v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284166/original/file-20190715-173329-1cup32v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284166/original/file-20190715-173329-1cup32v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284166/original/file-20190715-173329-1cup32v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284166/original/file-20190715-173329-1cup32v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284166/original/file-20190715-173329-1cup32v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At the bus station in Durham, N.C., in the 1930s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print">Library of Congress/FSA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The apology would also have to be carefully surrounded by ritual, so that its sincerity and seriousness would be apparent. </p>
<p>This could be followed by literally thousands of apologies by lower-level municipal governments, religious institutions and businesses. Every single institution would have to investigate its history and acknowledge and apologize for every single act of enslavement and discrimination against African-Americans.</p>
<h2>Memorials</h2>
<p>The next step would be to memorialize all these injustices. It is not enough to tear down monuments to leaders of the Confederate army. Memorials should be put up at public expense to African-Americans who fought against enslavement and later injustices. </p>
<p>Memorials should also be erected at sites of plantations, sites of protest and sites of known murders of African-Americans, from those who were lynched in decades past to those unjustly killed by police. These memorials are a way to assert that Black lives matter. </p>
<h2>Financial reparations</h2>
<p>Finally, there is the question of financial reparations and whether descendants of enslaved people should receive them. How, if at all, can all the descendants of enslaved African Americans be identified? Even if they can be identified, should they receive individual financial reparations? </p>
<p>Perhaps yes, to compensate for the huge gap in (mostly inherited) wealth between white and Black Americans. Perhaps African-Americans should be given a financial “boost” to help them on the road to moderate, middle-class security. But many white and other Americans might view this as unfair to other people who don’t enjoy such prosperity.</p>
<p>Alternately, perhaps the federal and state governments should pay group reparations to African Americans. Whites might be more willing to accept collective reparations of this kind. </p>
<p>One possibility is to invest in education, from shoring up predominantly African-American elementary schools to special university scholarships. One might argue that affirmative action programs have already accomplished this, but they have been weakened over the decades and, in any case, only apply at the university level. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284173/original/file-20190715-173347-1aaumam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284173/original/file-20190715-173347-1aaumam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284173/original/file-20190715-173347-1aaumam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284173/original/file-20190715-173347-1aaumam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284173/original/file-20190715-173347-1aaumam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284173/original/file-20190715-173347-1aaumam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284173/original/file-20190715-173347-1aaumam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Civil rights march on Washington, D.C., 1963.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.03128/">Warren K Leffler/U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection/Library of Congress/</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another option is housing investment in predominantly African-American residential areas, especially where public housing projects are located. For decades, African-Americans have been subjected to low-quality public housing and mortgage discrimination. </p>
<p>Yet another option is investment in African-Americans’ health care, although one could argue that the whole country deserves this kind of investment. Nevertheless, <a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-impacts-your-health-84112">if African-Americans suffer from some health problems at higher rates than white Americans</a>, then reparations could include enhanced health care.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-impacts-your-health-84112">Racism impacts your health</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many white and other Americans may oppose reparations to African-Americans on the grounds that neither they nor their ancestors had anything to do with the many ways African-Americans were and are oppressed. </p>
<p>But as citizens — whether of the U.S. or, in my case, Canada — we have a responsibility to make amends to fellow citizens who have been harmed by the past or present policies of our governments. Acknowledgement is a first step forward. Apologies, memorials and financial reparations continue the process.</p>
<p>Reparations are a way of making the country whole, by partially remedying the inherited inequalities that still plague African-Americans. They are a way of saying that African-Americans are, at long last, equal citizens of the United States of America and therefore deserving of its privileges and protections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119581/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann receives funding from the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada for the research on reparations and political apologies that she cites in this article.</span></em></p>Although financial reparation for African-Americans may be complicated to achieve, steps such as accurate acknowledgement of atrocities as well as public apologies and memorials can be enacted.Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1180352019-07-03T12:31:48Z2019-07-03T12:31:48ZWhy do rebel groups apologize?<p>Armed groups often rely on violence and instilling fear to show strength and resilience. And yet, every so often, they are willing to apologize when things go wrong. </p>
<p>The New IRA recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/world/europe/lyra-mckee-new-ira-apology.html">apologized for killing Lyra McKee,</a> an investigative journalist, during a riot in Derry. The group’s targets, which they described as “enemy forces,” were officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. </p>
<p>As scholars of conflict, we both study a variety of armed groups, from nationalist and separatist liberation movements to Islamist opposition groups. When we were graduate students at Syracuse University, we shared a cubicle and often compared stories of attacks that did not go as planned. </p>
<p>Over time, comparing anecdotes turned into a systematic <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1057610X.2016.1210891?tab=permissions&scroll=top">investigation</a> of armed attacks, in order to address an understudied question: Do rebel groups ever apologize for their mistakes? </p>
<p>If such groups were ever willing to apologize for their actions, we wanted to understand when and why they would do so. We hoped it would help us find ways to negotiate resolutions during conflicts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282297/original/file-20190702-126345-1qdr9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282297/original/file-20190702-126345-1qdr9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282297/original/file-20190702-126345-1qdr9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282297/original/file-20190702-126345-1qdr9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282297/original/file-20190702-126345-1qdr9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282297/original/file-20190702-126345-1qdr9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282297/original/file-20190702-126345-1qdr9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Al-Qaida apologized for a terrorist attack gone wrong in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/22/world/meast/yemen-al-qaeda-apology/">CNN</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From Wisconsin to Nigeria</h2>
<p>To answer the question, we identified incidents that had two things in common: known perpetrators and a clear mistake. </p>
<p>We defined attacks as a “clear mistake” only when details of the failed plan were provided by investigators, government agencies or others with some direct knowledge of it and reported in credible news outlets or government reports. That eliminated the thousands of plans that did not meet that criteria.</p>
<p>A poorly executed plan, for example, might include a bomb going off early or an error during the operation, such as targeting the wrong building or individual. </p>
<p>We excluded attacks that went awry because of something unpredictable – we wanted to differentiate happenstance from operational mistakes. We also excluded apologies issued because the attack, although it went according to the plan, was counterproductive. </p>
<p>Searching <a href="https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/">various</a> <a href="https://www.rand.org/nsrd/projects/terrorism-incidents.html">databases</a> and newspapers, we found 109 attacks that qualified.</p>
<p>These incidents stretched across different time periods and regions ranging from a <a href="https://madison.com/news/local/sterling-hall-bombing-aug-a-day-of-change-for-the/article_b49d5197-2a5e-54fc-8c0b-8398ea5674c9.html">1970 attack by the New Year’s Gang</a> that blew up the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s physics department instead of the Army Math Research Center on the floor above, to <a href="https://www.voanews.com/africa/boko-haram-claims-lagos-abuja-attacks">a 2014 attack by Boko Haram in Nigeria</a> in which a suicide bomber mistakenly detonated an explosive-laden vehicle next to a fuel depot in Lagos City. </p>
<p>In 61 out of 109 instances groups claimed the attack. In 22 cases, they apologized for it.</p>
<p>We found that public perception and reputation matter, even to terrorist groups. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282301/original/file-20190702-126400-1dorug0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282301/original/file-20190702-126400-1dorug0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282301/original/file-20190702-126400-1dorug0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282301/original/file-20190702-126400-1dorug0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282301/original/file-20190702-126400-1dorug0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282301/original/file-20190702-126400-1dorug0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282301/original/file-20190702-126400-1dorug0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The New Year’s Gang apologized for the 1970 attack in Madison, Wisconsin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Hall_bombing#/media/File:Sterling_Hall_bombing_after_explosion_1.jpg">uwdigitalcollections/Flicker</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Claiming mistakes</h2>
<p>When mistakes are made, organizations will typically react in a way that protects their status, reputation and interests. </p>
<p>Scholars who have examined how businesses, government agencies or hospitals react to mistakes, for example, have found that these organizations generally try to <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.soc.25.1.271">hide their mistakes</a> and deny responsibility. </p>
<p>Yet we found that even terrorist groups such as <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/al-qaeda-arabian-peninsula-aqap">al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula</a>, an al-Qaida affiliate based in Yemen, or the <a href="https://www.rand.org/topics/the-islamic-state-terrorist-organization.html">Islamic State Group</a>, a militant group that seeks to redraw the borders of Syria and Iraq and establish an Islamic caliphate, were willing to publicly acknowledge their mistakes – sometimes. </p>
<p>In November 2013, for example, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24957195">IS fighters in Syria mistakenly beheaded a fellow rebel, Mohammed Fares</a>, because they thought he was a government supporter. In the aftermath, an IS spokesman issued a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/14/world/meast/syria-beheading-mistake/">statement</a> calling for forgiveness and asking for “restraint and piety.” </p>
<p>A month later, AQAP used a suicide car bomb and gunmen to storm the Yemeni Ministry of Defense. The militants were allegedly directed not to target the military hospital in the compound, but one of the fighters disobeyed the orders. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-explosion/suicide-bomber-gunmen-kill-52-at-yemeni-defense-ministry-idUSBRE9B406520131205">Four doctors and three nurses</a> were among the 167 injured. Thirty-three civilians and 10 security officers were killed in the combined operations – consisting of the suicide bomb at the ministry of defense, the gunmen opening fire and the explosion in the hospital. </p>
<p>Later that month, the head of AQAP, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/22/world/meast/yemen-al-qaeda-apology/">in a public apology, said</a>, “We confess to this mistake and fault. We offer our apologies and condolences to the families of the victims.” </p>
<p>Most of the clearly mistaken attacks claimed by groups, however, did not result in an apology. Of the 61 claimed instances we looked at, about 64% of the groups never issued a public apology.</p>
<p>In March 2014, for instance, fighters for the Afghani Taliban, another militant Islamist group, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/world/asia/taliban-militants-attack-kabul-house-and-trap-foreigners.html?_r=0">planned to attack</a> a Christian-run day care in Kabul. </p>
<p>Instead, gunmen mistakenly stormed the compound next door, which happened to house heavily armed American government contractors. The firearms exchange resulted in the death of four of the five attackers and two Afghan civilians. The fifth attacker committed suicide. The Taliban never apologized.</p>
<p>In 1984, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group that sought to abolish Britain’s control over Northern Ireland, unsuccessfully tried to kill British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by blowing up her hotel room in Brighton during her party’s annual convention. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/10/13/ira-says-it-bombed-thatchers-hotel/21527b55-ffb3-434e-937a-d81d4552cb09/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.77868fcfb667">announcement</a> after the attack, they famously said, “Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once – you will have to be lucky always.” </p>
<p>On June 7, 2019, the New IRA used nearly identical words when claiming <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/07/new-ira-claims-responsibility-for-car-bomb-attempt">responsibility</a> for a failed car bomb attack in Belfast. The New IRA is a coalition of groups that splintered from the Provisional IRA in protest of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/14118775">the Good Friday Agreement</a> that was signed in 1998 between all parties to the conflict in Northern Ireland. </p>
<h2>When do rebel groups apologize?</h2>
<p>We expected organizations with a political wing or nationalist ideology to be more likely to apologize, because their survival is arguably more dependent on public support. </p>
<p>Our study suggests that whether a group claims a mistake and apologizes for it has little to do with ideology or group characteristics. The response to a mistake seems, instead, to depend on the nature of the attack. </p>
<p>The more fatalities, the higher the chance that a group admits a mistake. The odds of claiming increase almost 27% for every additional fatality. </p>
<p>However, the odds of claiming a mistake decrease by over 80% if the attack results in the death of their own group members.</p>
<p>Apologies show a similar pattern. When a mistake results in more than five civilian casualties, the odds that a group apologizes increase almost fourfold. </p>
<h2>Public opinion matters</h2>
<p>This suggests that even groups that may purposefully target civilians are sensitive to how their attacks are perceived by the public. When mistakes result in the unintended death of civilians, especially women and children, public condemnation may drive rebel groups to apologize. </p>
<p>On Oct. 23, 1993, for instance, the Provisional IRA <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-45950005/shankill-bomb-23-october-1993">planted a bomb in a shop</a> under the headquarters of the Ulster Defense Association, a competing paramilitary organization. The attackers supposedly planned to give the shoppers time to run. But the bomb exploded early, killing nine civilians, including two children and four women. </p>
<p>The attack led to an immediate, widespread and harsh <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/24/world/ira-bombing-kills-9-in-a-shopping-area-of-belfast.html">public condemnation</a>.</p>
<p>The public understood that the violence jeopardized the peace negotiations that were happening at the time, and made the Catholic community vulnerable to retaliatory attacks, according to an article headlined “The Shankill Road Bomb: Ulster Waits for Funerals and Loyalist Revenge,” published in The Independent on Oct. 25, 1993. </p>
<p>The Provisional IRA immediately apologized. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams called the incident a great tragedy, offering “his complete and absolute sympathy,” according to an article headlined “Crisis in Ulster: IRA Bombing Puts Adams’ Authority in Doubt” in The Independent, Oct. 27, 1993. </p>
<p>Such sensitivity to public perception may explain why the New IRA offered its “full and sincere apologies” after <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/at-lyra-mckees-funeral-in-belfast-priest-asks-why-it-takes-a-murder-for-politicians-to-come-together/2019/04/24/39c54712-6610-11e9-a698-2a8f808c9cfb_story.html">public condemnation</a> of the killing. </p>
<p>These examples show that armed groups may not necessarily seek to only instill fear and terror. They may also be sensitive to public opinion — and may even be open to learning and self-criticism if their reputation is at stake.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ioana Emy Matesan has previously received funding from the National Science Foundation, under Grant No. SES-1160391. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Ioana Emy Matesan is a member of the American Political Science Association, International Studies Association, and Middle East Studies Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronit Berger is affiliated with the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association. </span></em></p>Organizations try to hide mistakes and evade responsibility, studies show. But two scholars analyzing militant and terrorist groups say they are willing to acknowledge their mistakes – sometimes.Ioana Emy Matesan, Assistant Professor of Government, Wesleyan UniversityRonit Berger Hobson, Post Doctoral Fellow, Interdisciplinary Center HerzliyaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1076782019-02-08T19:49:57Z2019-02-08T19:49:57ZHow to say ‘I’m sorry,’ whether you’ve appeared in a racist photo, harassed women or just plain screwed up<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>These two words may seem simple, but the ability to express them when you’re in the wrong is anything but – particularly for those in the public eye. </p>
<p>Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, to name a recent example, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ralph-northam-response-racist-yearbook-photo_us_5c54bca6e4b0871047536bed">was forced to apologize</a> after his 1984 medical school yearbook page resurfaced showing two unnamed men, one with blackface and another wearing the Ku Klux Klan’s white hood and robe. That he seriously botched his effort to apologize is arguably one of the reasons <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/md-gov-hogan-calls-on-virginias-northam-to-resign/2019/02/06/056e6d78-2a41-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html">many people</a> are still <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/democrats-call-on-northam-to-resign/index.html">calling on him</a> to resign. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/people/lisa-leopold">language scholar</a>, I wanted to get to the bottom of just what makes an apology effective by analyzing dozens of mea culpas. While some offered authentic apologies, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">many more seemed defensive</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/us/southwest-airlines-lindsay-gottlieb-biracial-baby-trnd/index.html">insincere</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">forced</a>.</p>
<p>With the help of insights from <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">linguists</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologists</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">business ethicists</a> who study apologies, I found that there are three main elements each needs to have to be effective.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators call for Northam’s resignation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Governor-Klan-Blackface/6ceb35ad4abf48e88eddbc6986c65e97/15/0">AP Photo/Steve Helber</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not all apologies are equal</h2>
<p>Much is at stake with a public apology.</p>
<p>When done right, it can rebuild trust and <a href="https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0378216608003007/1-s2.0-S0378216608003007-main.pdf?_tid=65a4d09e-c6be-4eeb-a055-c41490e57dea&acdnat=1549406972_fcd23b7de5022a7f8239b687c7ee5a9d">restore a damaged reputation</a>. However, a poorly crafted apology can lead to widespread criticism and further damage credibility. <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/08/research-for-a-corporate-apology-to-work-the-ceo-should-look-sad">Research shows</a> that the <a href="https://on.ft.com/2DmdS1n">way a company crafts an apology</a> can even affect its future financial performance and that leaders who apologize <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225822507_Apologies_and_Transformational_Leadership">tend to be viewed more favorably</a> than those who don’t.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.moodypublishers.com/books/marriage-and-family/when-sorry-isnt-enough/">When Sorry Isn’t Enough: Making Things Right with Those You Love</a>,” Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas cite a survey of what people preferred most in an apology. It found that almost four-fifths wanted their would-be penitent to either express regret or accept responsibility, as opposed to make restitution, repent or seek forgiveness. </p>
<p>In 2011, David Boyd, now dean emeritus at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">identified seven strategies</a> that make public apologies effective. I believe three of them – revelation, responsibility and recognition – are the most significant because they overlap with those identified by prominent scholars in other fields, including <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/umn.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dW1uLmVkdXxhbmRyZXdkY29oZW58Z3g6MTRlNmUzYWUxMGJmZjMxZg">linguists Andrew Cohen and Elite Olshtain</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologist Robert Gordon</a>. </p>
<p>That is, an admission for the lapse using the words “I am sorry” or “I apologize,” ownership for the offense and empathy for those who have been hurt all contribute to an effective apology. But it’s not enough for an apology just to contain these three ingredients. It’s also about the exact wording used.</p>
<p>In my analysis of infamous public apologies that celebrities, CEOs and political figures have delivered over the past two years, I was looking for how they fared according to Boyd’s standards of revelation, responsibility and recognition. I also closely examined the language of each apology, applying many insights from linguist Edwin Battistella’s book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology</a>.”</p>
<h2>1. ‘I am sorry’</h2>
<p>This may seem obvious but sadly isn’t: Any respectable apology must include an actual apology with a specific acknowledgment of what was done. Surprisingly, some people attempting to own up to something never get around to actually apologizing. </p>
<p>Comedian Louis C.K., for example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/arts/television/louis-ck-statement.html">never actually used words</a> like “apologize” or “sorry” after <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/television/louis-ck-sexual-misconduct.html?module=inline">being accused of sexual misconduct</a> by several women. He called the stories “true” and said he was “remorseful” but dodged the actual apology. </p>
<p>Others try to apologize in a general way to avoid being pinned down to a specific transgression, weakening the impact. Or they may admit to a lesser offense. A case in point is <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/28/apple-apologizes-for-not-being-clearer-about-slowing-down-iphones-with-older-batteries/">Apple’s non-apology apology</a> in December 2017 over the performance of iPhone batteries.</p>
<p>“We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process,” the company said. “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize.”</p>
<p>Was Apple apologizing for the poor-performing batteries, its communication process or the feelings of its customers? Distancing the actual apology from the transgressions is a common tactic in corporate apologies, used in recent years both by <a href="https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Discrimination-and-Belonging/td-p/191832">Airbnb</a> and <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2018/04/16/uber-tries-to-make-nice-with-the-city-of-portland.html">Uber</a> as well.</p>
<h2>2. ‘I did it’</h2>
<p>Any well-crafted apology must claim responsibility for the transgression – not attribute one’s actions to happenstance or external factors.</p>
<p>Amid the Cambridge Analytica scandal, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">Facebook</a> CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the passive voice to distance himself from any wrongdoing: “I’m really sorry that this happened,” he said in an interview to CNN.</p>
<p>That wasn’t the first time he used the passive voice this way. In an earlier <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-zuckerberg/zuckerberg-seeks-forgiveness-for-division-caused-by-his-work-idUSKCN1C61XY">apology issued in 2017</a> after Facebook was criticized for Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, he said, “For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better.” </p>
<p>The choice of the passive suggests that he has little control over the ways his work was used by others.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/charlierose/status/932747035069034496">Another example</a> is Charlie Rose, a television journalist <a href="https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/cbs-fired-charlie-rose-one-year-ago-today/385128">fired by CBS</a> following accusations of sexual misconduct. He issued an apology in the following manner: “I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too. All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives.”</p>
<p>By including himself as one of several people and embedding his actions as part of a broader group’s actions, he minimized responsibility for his own transgressions.</p>
<p>Others simply try to deflect attention from the transgression as part of an apology, as actor <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinSpacey/status/924848412842971136">Kevin Spacey</a> did when he announced his sexual orientation or like disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">vow to direct his anger to the National Rifle Association</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson in April 2018 gave an <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/views/a-follow-up-message-from-starbucks-ceo-in-philadelphia">example of an apology</a> that takes real ownership after two African-American men were arrested while waiting for a friend at one of his stores: “These two gentlemen did not deserve what happened, and we are accountable. I am accountable.”</p>
<h2>3. ‘I feel your pain’</h2>
<p>Finally, apologies should meet the standard of recognition: expressing empathy to those who have been hurt.</p>
<p>Many so-called apologies fail to acknowledge victims’ feelings, focusing instead on justifications or excuses. For example, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/entertainment/henry-cavill-me-too-apology/index.html">actor Henry Cavill apologized</a> for his controversial statements about the #MeToo movement by saying he’s sorry for “any confusion and misunderstanding that” his comments created. In doing so, he insinuated that there was no transgressor or victim, as more than one party is typically to blame for a misunderstanding.</p>
<p>Expressions of empathy are further weakened anytime a modal such as “may” is used to cast doubt on whether the transgression had a negative impact on others. In <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russell-simmons-pens-response-sexual-assault-allegations-1061061">an apology issued</a> by the record producer Russell Simmons for sexual misconduct, his use of “may” ultimately suggests that women may or may not have been offended by his actions: “For any women from my past who I may have offended, I sincerely apologize. I am still evolving.”</p>
<p>Furthermore, those last four words show that he’s focusing on his own growth, rather than the pain of his victims.</p>
<h2>Failing to apologize</h2>
<p>Returning to Northam, his apology failed to live up to all three strategies. </p>
<p>After initially accepting that one of the men was him, he quickly reversed himself, expressing contrition while distancing himself from the racist photo. And then his apology included the vague wording “for the decision I made to appear as I did,” which hardly constitutes a worthy admission of wrongdoing. </p>
<p>Referring to his actions as “this” rather than “my” minimizes ownership. And rather than accepting responsibility, <a href="https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/norfolk/democrat-virginia-gov-ralph-northam-will-not-resign-northam-says-it-wasnt-him-in-photo/291-149fb35a-dc3b-4241-9211-e1721ba756dd">he pleads with the public</a> not to let his past behavior shape how they see him.</p>
<p>So if you’re finding it difficult to parse the multitude of public apologies in the mainstream media, look closely for these three ingredients, along with the language each uses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107678/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Leopold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trying to figure out if Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam or other would-be penitents are sincere? A scholar who analyzed dozens of recent apologies offers a user’s guide.Lisa Leopold, Associate Professor of English Language Studies, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.