The Alabama House has reached back into history and apologized for how authorities mishandled the 1944 rape of a young black woman by a gang of white men as she walked home from church in a southwestern Alabama town.
The House on Tuesday approved by an apparent unanimous voice vote a resolution that expresses "deepest sympathies and solemn regrets" to Recy Taylor, who is now 91 years old and lives in Florida.
She was 24 when she was confronted by seven men who forced her into their car at knife and gunpoint and drove her to a deserted grove of trees where six of the men raped her. Two all-white, all-male grand juries refused to indict the suspects.
Her 74-year-old brother, Robert Corbitt, who still lives in Abbeville where the rape happened, said he was happy his sister was finally going to get what she wanted - an apology.
The strongly worded resolution said the failure of Alabama law enforcement and the court system to prosecute the crimes "was, and is "morally abhorrent and repugnant."
It was introduced by freshman Rep. Dexter Grimsley, D-Newville. It now goes to the Senate, where Democratic Sen. Billy Beasley, D-Clayton, who also represents Abbeville, said he expects it to pass.
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