Via MySpace, Kirk Douglas wants you to get the U.S. to apologize for slavery

The Orange County Register (MCT) - Actor Kirk Douglas has taken an old cause to a new platform, using his MySpace page to gather signatures in support of a national apology for America's past practice of slavery.

It's a cause that Douglas, 91, has advocated for years, but has taken online only since joining MySpace as he entered his nineties.

The combination of legendary actor, social justice and high-tech intrigued us _ along with his publicist's claim that Douglas is the oldest celebrity on MySpace _ so we rang him up to learn more about how and why he launched this plan.

"I think our country should have a formal apology for the slavery before the Civil War, and after the Civil War," said Douglas, his voice slightly impaired from a stroke he suffered about 10 years ago. "That will tell the world that a country as powerful as ours can have humility.

"We're not very popular in the world right now, and that would help to change our image," Douglas said.

Just over a month ago, the House of Representatives passed a resolution that did apologize for slavery, he said.

Now he looks to the Senate and the White House _ and presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain _ to see what they might do, and uses his MySpace page to rally fans and the curious to his cause.

"MySpace gives me a chance to talk to younger people," Douglas says. "And it's been very satisfying. Because I love the answers that they write me.

"Not everyone agrees with me, but I welcome that. I try to encourage them to participate."

His interest in the cause of a national apology for slavery stems both from his long-held views on social justice, from his family's history as poor immigrant Russian Jews, and from a sense that having enjoyed a wonderful life he should give back to the world and make it a better place.

"I identify with everyone who is oppressed," Douglas said. "I come from very, very poor people, and I always remember the problems they had. And I think when you grow up, you should start to think of other people.

"Let's face it, the world is in a mess, and our children will inherit the mess," he said. "And so we have to do something to help them."

Douglas blogs periodically on his MySpace page, updating visitors on the progress of the slavery apology, or just sharing moments in life.

The paperback edition of his most recent memoir, "Let's Face It," just arrived, he told readers on Friday.

"It looks good," Douglas writes. "I think I will read it."

He regularly comes back to the topic of apologizing for slavery, inviting visitors in April to write him via MySpace if they support his cause.

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"I am going to write a letter to the president for his help in issuing a formal apology for slavery," Douglas wrote in a blog post. "If anyone of you agree with my endeavor please send me your name and e-mail address, so that I can include it in my letter.

"If you disagree with me I will still love you."

To visit Douglas' MySpace page, go myspace.com/letsfaceitbook.

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© 2008, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).