Recall the foofaraw when Bill Clinton considered apologizing for slavery. Sure, I didn't enslave anyone and neither did my ancestors, but I'd be a liar if I said that as a white American I haven't somehow indirectly benefited from that evil institution. I have no connection to slavery, but I regret that it happened in a country that I believe in and call home. Please accept my apology for slavery. That's hypocrisy in my book.
Apologies are powerful.
They are disarming. I would even counsel using them in a Machiavellian way. We must all stoop to conquer sometimes. Moreover, apologies preempt further animosity by palliating the aggrieved. And, by the way, if you disagree with me, I'm very sorry about that.