Virgina Governor, Bob McDonnell has declared April ‘Confederate History Month‘ in Virginia.
You remember McDonnell? He’s the guy who gave the response to Obama’s state of the union by holding a speech in the Virgina legislature, filled with friends and allies so it looked like more than what it was: an ambitious Southern politician, interested in higher office, spewing the same old, tired Republican talking points, pretending to be President.
This is a new low, however, and a clear sign that things may be moving in the wrong direction when it comes to race in this country.
Confederate history is illegitimate. You cannot discuss one side of a war as if it were it’s own history. You must include the Union’s story as well and discuss the issue of slavery, impoverished Virginians fighting to keep plantation-slave owners rich (who didn’t have to serve) Jim Crow and the tragedies of Reconstruction. Civil War History month would have been fair, otherwise it is purely political.
(SEE UPDATE BELOW FOR MORE)
This is politics at its worst, pure and simple. He’s using a divisive issue to push impoverished and middle class white Virginians away from the growing Democratic influence in the state. Sound familiar?
The whole point of Jim Crow was to keep ignorant whites in the dark with hate, while the rich plantation owners screwed over sharecroppers of all races. The sad part was that it worked and it very well may work again.
Republicans are the party of the rich elite, keeping dumb Southerners in line, just as the Dixiecrats did in their time, by appealing to the prejudices of frustrated, ignorant people. It keeps them from realizing the truth, that this new Southern Republican party is passing laws that limit liberty of citizens and expand liberty of corporations to do whatever they please and get rich doing it (all the while they are virtually bribing the Republican party so they get a small piece too). These large businesses eat through the resources of the country like termites, all the while leaving less money in the people’s coffers. The rich get richer while the rest get poorer and poorer. The services of the government that make lives more livable deteriorate (as we are now seeing after 30 years of Republican rule). When the state is ruined, the corporations flee for greener pastures, and the cycle continues.
It’s so basic, it’s brilliant.
It’s also as old as time itself. The conservative forces in politics have been using division since at least the time of Caesar (ie: Nero’s war on Christians). Keep us divided and we are easier to control. Today, it’s done with homosexuals, liberals, immigrants and sadly, it looks as if race may be re-entering the picture, as evidenced by the increasing racial overtones of the Tea-Bagger movement.
I hope the American people, in particular the South, are smart enough to ignore these deceitful and disgraceful tactics. I hope these racist signs are simply the exception. I’m not holding my breath, however. The South has a bad history of falling for racial politics.
There is one glimmer of hope, however. One word: macaca. It sunk Virgina Senator George Allen because it was ugly racial politics. Perhaps the Old Dominion will go back to being for lovers instead of racists.
UPDATE: Gov. McDonnel has apparently decided, in all his infinite wisdom, that slavery would NOT be included in the Confederate History Month because of the question if it’s significance. “I focused on the [issues] I thought were most significant for Virginia.”
Can you believe that? What could be more significant to Confederate History than slavery? Slavery not only was the cause of the war, it was significant to the war itself, allowing slave owners to avoid combat and stay home. It was a crucial component to the home front economy and was an extremely valuable commodity, especially in the C.S.A.’s decay into a barter system. As Richmond burned, slave owners tried to cling to their property, as the challenges of moving dozens of slaves became apparent in the midst of an invasion of Union soldiers.
No Mr. McDonnel, slavery is essential to the short and pathetic history of the Confederacy, which is really just a snapshot of Southern History and you can’t tell that without slavery and Jim Crow, period.
Talk about massive denial!