A Republican senator from north Georgia has introduced a resolution offering regret for Georgia’s part in slavery.

Sen. Barry Loudermilk (R-Cassville) says members of the clergy asked him to sponsor the resolution.

“I think this is a barrier between some of our races, between black Georgians and white Georgians and black Americans and white Americans, even though no one living today in this state or nation was enslaved by this government,” he says.

While the measure expresses profound remorse and lamentations for the past practice of slavery, Loudermilk’s resolution stops short of an apology.

“In reality, can we apologize for something a previous legislature did,” he asks.

Attempts have been made in the past by then-Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, another white Republican, and Rep. Tyrone Brooks, a black Democrat.  But no legislation on the matter has ever made it to the floor of either chamber for a vote.

If passed, Georgia would become one of nine states to either offer an apology or express regret for slavery.