Blacks Go Home: Virginia Brings Back “Confederate History Month”
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Dixie strikes again.
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors — Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — refused to do.
Republican governors George Allen and Jim Gilmore issued similar proclamations. But in 2002, Warner broke with their action, calling such proclamations, a ‘lightning rod’ that does not help bridge divisions between whites and blacks in Virginia.
The south keeps living down to its historical image. Ridiculous. We don’t honor traitors that cause civil war, especially in defense of enslaving people. Sick.
46 Responses to “Blacks Go Home: Virginia Brings Back “Confederate History Month””
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
I’m sure that all backers of Confederate History Month are just as dedicated to memorializing all those African Americans who died in slavery and those who fought for the Union against the treasonous rebels. You know, because, um, it’s all about everyone’s history and heritage, right?
Sad, but not unexpected these days.
I come from the northernmost tip of a Civil War “border state” which is too-often lumped-together as part of The South. While the pro-CSA mentality exists in certain pockets about the state, we luckily have just enough MidWestern influence to tamp it down to an easier-to-stomach level.
Good luck with that one, Virginia.
KD
When it comes to [the South and the Civil War], there are two attitudes that I despise. The first, and more widespread, comes from the right and their insistence that the [people of the South (hard-working, “real” Americans)] should never be questioned. Attempts to criticize [the South] are always regarded by this group as traitorious rather than the necessary function of [a mature, tolerant, egalitarian society].
The second group without a clue are liberals who buy into the caricature of [the South] as bloodthirsty savages who [started the Civil War to protect slavery]. [Oliver Willis] is in this camp. [Willis] insists that things like [canonizing the Confederacy and cheering on the worst traditions of Southern culture] are just standard operating procedure for [Southerners], and not aberrations from the norm.
See how I did that? Clever, huh.
Bu, bu, but, the Civil War wasn’t about slavery!
Another embarrassment to our nation. At least the tea baggers have their Presidential candidate.
Hi Oliver,
Apparently McDonnell believes that he is playing to his base. We can only hope that his constituents are not the caricatures of the past that many believe them to be. It’s disheartening, but not surprising, that this kind of thing still plays well anywhere. Ray
Umm, Sorry? I did not vote for the asshole and he does not care what I think.
Oh Virginny! Yas did it once more….,got in the news again! Don’t you folks realize that whats done here is read & talked about all over the world now…,stop being so damn provincial! I’m from Vermont orginaly,moved down to Virginia in 1994 because of its location,economy,& just wanted to get out of the “Old Country”. I’ve had somewhat of a difficult time trying to understand this retro mentality down here,I mean the Civil War is loooong past,even your grandparents weren’t born yet ’round here…,and it was over & done with.
This constant carping about “heritage” kinda reminds me of overzealous-overnostalgic Star Trek fans,or even Dead-heads,who don’t want to face the fact that what you’re into is all over & done with!
From the Proclamation :
I guess forgetting about the Civil War entirely would be a better idea — but never forget that some of the Founding Fathers owned slaves.
He didn’t proclaim Civil War History month Frank, he proclaimed Confederate History Month-See the difference? He’s memorializing the Confederate States treason against the United States, all done in the name of preserving slavery.
The Civil War was about sedition, treason and the consequences. We can all learn from what happened to the
Confederacytraitors, but a month long celebration of treason is more than I can stomach.Why do Republicans hate America so much that they celebrate our enemies?
Thank you Ward… Now read the Proclamation. And, BTW, I don’t think it’s such a good idea to sweep either the Confederacy or southern antebellum life under the rug, either.
And the way your final sentence reads , it seems to say that Governor is memorializing the Confederates’ treason (which he is not) all in the name of preserving slavery. You might want to send that back to rewrite.
Don’t worry, the AEI has a symposium coming up about the civil war.
But for some odd reason, there are no Black historians. Eh, must be another coincidence.
In honor of Confederate History Month southern white racists will continue to lose to the president from Illinois.
Yes Frank–let’s not sweep the confederacy and antebellum life under a rug where all the wonderful
“employees” got up at 4:00 a.m. to go to the fields and left them at sundown. Let’s
celebrate the children sold off to other plantations in other states. Let’s not sweep
the cholera and diphtheria in the slave quarters under the rug and the beatings and the rapes
of the “workers.” Let’s truly celebrate the wealthy south and the cotton gin while we’re at it.
And let’s not forget the southern men drinking whisky on the porch and the women all wearing fashions from
Paris while being fanned by some small black “worker” child.
Do you think they’ll be sweeping any of these things under the rug during Confederate History Month, Frank?
Damn–I hope not.
What Robert E. Lee, Osama bin Laden and Hitler have in common is that they all shot live lead into the bodies of U.S. soldiers and sailors in defense of retrograde, unjust societies.
If they want to secede, let them. A quicker way to increase the average IA and per capita income of the United States of America can scarcely be imagined.
I would like to think that Frank didn’t mean it that way, Leota, but I really am at a loss to interpret what else he could have meant. Perhaps, it’s good that we don’t forget the reason why the U.S. had a civil war in the first place? I don’t know there are things that are just indefensible, so I would really like to think that he’s not defending those horrible, horrible people!
The Gov. did not proclaim “Civil War history month,” Frank. It’s “Confederate history month.”
Bah! Sorry Ward. I didn’t see you there.
What he said.
Remember, it wasn’t about slavery, it was about states’ rights….
….to own slaves.
Also, Nat Turner Day is all about remembering the tragic racial history of our country, not about celebrating chopping up white folks into little bits. Oh, wait, there is no Nat Turner Day. My bad.
This has really stirred up a lot of raw feelings, blacks and whites at each other’s throats. You people are like cats and dogs. So self righteous, taking the high road while your mothers and sisters in Africa are having their ears and lips chopped off by their own kind. Easier to take on street names in Tennesee than the Jar’weed in Algeria.
I really am at a loss to interpret what else he could have meant
Indeed you are Wilfredo, as is Leota. This may shock you, but southerners, even plantation owners, didn’t spend all day beating slaves, starving them or making sure they were miserable.
In fact, I’d be willing to bet that they were able to go a whole day, maybe more, without the thought of a slave crossing their mind.
So there was the philosophy of the South, chronicled in The Southern Tradition At Bay, by Richard M . Weaver.
Then there was life in slavery, chronicled in Roll, Jordan, Roll by Eugene Genovese, and Time on the Cross, by Stanley L. Engerman and Robert William Fogel (one of the earliest books to use Isaac Asimov’s fictional “cliometrics” [he called it ‘psychohistory’) in real life).
Shall we disregard all that work because “the Confederacy was icky”? I think not.
And, Leota,if you had an open mind ( I say “if” because, being a modern day liberal, it is highly unlikely that you do ), you might read one or both of those books about slavery and discover that what you stated is not wholly accurate. But, I’m not holding my breath ’til a liberal changes their mind.
Yes, Mike … Just like “choice” is about choosing an abortion.
What’s next, Japanese American internment month? Confederacy represents treasonous acts, and to honor this should be considered unpatriotic. Republicans coined the term “flip-flop”, but that is ALL they seem to be doing.
Bush era:”don’t criticize a sitting president during times of war. Obama era:Cricism from day one. We ARE still in two wars.
Bush era:Spend now, pay later. Obama era:Don’t spend a DIME if we can’t take it from somewhere else. Deficits, deficits, deficits.
Honoring confederacy is like giving the child a treat after he does something wrong. Both are rewarding bad behavior!
Missed by a country mile, there, Frank, but keep trying, anyway.
For all the blather about other underlying reasons for the Civil War, it really comes down to slavery, in the final analysis. They thought that Lincoln would impose abolition upon them, and they seceded from the US rather than even face the possibility of freeing the slaves who were providing the unpaid labor upon which their agribusinesses were built.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Civil_War
A simple test: But for the existence of slavery, would there still be a civil war? None of those subsidiary issues which were unrelated to slavery were big enough to trigger a secessionist movement by themselves or even collectively, absent the impetus of the slavery dispute.
White guilt, it’s a trip. My menuados are amazed, no other race has such shame for their ancestors. You gringos are hard to understand, most don’t embrace extinction.
Please explain why it isn’t a good idea to sweep the Confederacy under the rug?
Yes, we all need an open mind about the effing confederacy. Would you like to own me, Frank, so that we can continue the southern traditions?
Can you make a good grilled cheese and bacon on rye? If not, I am not interested. I stopped growing cotton in my living room about 8, 10 years ago.
You obviously fear the study of the South, the Confederacy, and the complete story of the Civil War.
I don’t need to ask why, I don’t want to know why, and I don’t have any suspicions as to why.
You might want to think about it, though — I mean, as a kind of historical “thought experiment”:
Why would I want to know about the antebellum South, the Confederacy, and the Civil War? What would I gain?
Your friends at KET list these causes:
The most important causes Southerners listed for the war were unfair taxation, states’ rights, and the slavery issue.
All three.
Now, back to the point: Is studying the Civil War glorification of slavery, and / or offensive to blacks?
Is a study of, and recognition of Confederate soldiers – including the black soldiers – a glorification of slavery , and / or offensive to blacks?
Is a study of the workings of the Confederacy, a glorification of slavery, and / or offensive to blacks?
I say No, No, and No.
Blacks and white, really getting after it now.
Did McDonnell call it “Civil War History Month”? No.
Did he mention slavery during his speech? No.
Did he mention it being a time for a critical in-depth study of the inner workings of the Confederacy? No.
Both the tariff issue and the “states rights” issue tied into slavery, so, again, it’s a bogus line of argument.
No amount of lipstick will turn this pig into anything other than a pig, Frank. That many of the celebrants of this CHM most likely mock and roll their eyes at Black History Month ain’t exactly a coincidence.
Carlos, here’s a nice big mug of STFU.
Short history lesson – in the half century preceding the Treason War, the main source of Federal income was tariffs on imports. The higher the tariffs were, the less finished goods were imported. This was good for the North, because that’s where most of the nation’s budding industries were. Low tarifffs were good for the South, because they exported agricultural goods (raw materials) and wanted to import finished goods from Europe.
Henry Clay persuaded the Western states/territories to support high tariffs, with the idea that once Northern industries took off, the North would become prosperous enough to be an internal market for Western raw materials (e.g., wheat, cattle, pigs). This would screw over the South, so they wanted slavery to spread to the territories. That way, when they became states they would vote with the South in the Senate. The Republican Party, when it started, had as one of its platform planks than slavery could not spreaed to the territories (see Bleeding Kansas). When a Republican was elected President, the Southern states realized it was crunch time. Tariffs continued to be a big deal clear up to the Income Tax Amendment, which was as big an earthquake in this country’s economic history as the founding of the Federal Reserve Bank, and almost as unknown.
Honestly, was I the only one who stayed awake through high school civics class?
Shorter TV’s Frank: SQUIRREL!
TFJ for Michael C.
Recognition of the confederacy is insulting to blacks and all other patriotic Americans.
I met a little old lady the other day who said she had both a Union flag and a Confederate flag flying in her yard. When I asked her how she rectified the dichotomy of two principles in opposition, she just kinda stared at me.
Although I may have talked her out of hating Obama as much as she did when she came in.
Of course you would say “No” to those questions. What else are you gonna say?
Let me rephrase; blacks and white guilt vs. whites, really getting after it now.
Robert, despite your hostility towards the Carlos, that was a pretty good post. Oliver, only one person can speak for blacks and patriotic Americans and Jesse Jackson already has that job.
OK, OK, I give up !
The Civil War was ALL about slavery!
Southern slaveholders were all mindlessly cruel bastards.
Everyone south of the Mason-Dixon Line is a racist pig who if they had their way would enslave the blacks again.
There was absolutely no justification for secession , and killing thousands of southerners to prove that point was a perfectly sensible solution to the problem.
Since that pretty much sums up the liberal interpretation of things, I am out of this thread.
There was absolutely no justification for secession , and killing thousands of southerners to prove that point was a perfectly sensible solution to the problem.
Since that pretty much sums up the liberal interpretation of things, I am out of this thread.
Shorter Frank: Since this strawman is so ridiculous, I won’t hang around to defend it.
Frank should be aware that the [hundreds of] thousands of Southerners who got killed, attacked the United States of America. I wish you had stuck around to tell us what the president should have done instead of fighting back when the Army of the Confederacy started lobbing shells at Fort Sumpter and training for warfare, with uniforms, weapons and the like.
I guess the conservative view is that the Union should have surrendered to the Confederacy as soon as they heard the first shot.
It’s really all about Gov. McDonnell’s version of history. After he leaves office, there’s a career waiting for him as a member of the Texas Board of Education.
How DARE you, sir!
I have known TV’s Frank, I have watched TV’s Frank….
This is no TV’s Frank!
Frank: Yes or no: Taking all factors into account (which you seem very insistent about), were the southern states justified in mounting armed rebellion against the duly elected government of the United States? Yes or no
After reading many comments here, I’d like to point out that not everyone in or from the south is racist. I certainly was brought up to believe that way of thinking is wrong. Also, that area of the US has no monopoly on hate. I have heard more racist comments here in 10 years than I heard the entire rest of my life in TN. One difference I notice is that the racists in the south are obvious and the rest of us regard them as sort of dumb and uneducated. The racists here in MD are more of the wink-and-nod variety, people who assume everyone feels the way they do and think that as long as they don’t use certain words, it’s okay. That seems far more dangerous to me, since it isn’t out in the light where it can be addressed and refuted. I can’t tell you how many times I was looking for real estate here and asked about an area, wanting to know how congested it was, if there was shopping, etc., only to be told the ethnicity of the residents. In Knoxville TN, where I owned my first home, we had a very diverse neighborhood, with shared yard sales, cake and coffee at different homes, neighbors’ children’s fundraiser stuff, etc. No one thought anything of it. Jus tthought I’d put that idea out there. Stereotyping isn’t nice.