"Confederate History Month" Minus Slavery

Last week the Governor of Virginia, Robert McDonnell, issued a proclamation recognizing April as Confederate History Month. He celebrated "those who fought for their homes and communities and Commonwealth" in an effort to remind people of "the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War." The Governor originally chose not to mention slavery in his proclamation. Instead he focused on "the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia." Apparently he did not consider the suffering of the slaves a significant aspect of the war.

We visited Gettysburg recently and were reminded of the unimaginable suffering and the terrible loss of life, for both sides, on that battlefield. But one must remember that the most significant cause of that war was the issue of slavery. One would need blinders to ignore the plight of the slaves. Perhaps Governor McDonnell wears blinders.

There is no doubt that, right now, much of the public is feeling alienated and anxious about Obama, health care reform, job loss. They want the "old America" back -- an America that was largely white and middle-class. And now they find reassurance and comfort in substituting "heritage" for hate. Right-wing pundits fire up these anxious feelings in order to promote their own agenda and to create a following. And so far they have had spectacular success in fostering the politics of hate.

As Jon Meacham wrote in the New York Times, Sunday, April 11, 2010, "As the Sesquicentennial of Fort Sumter approaches in 2011, the enduring problem for neo-Confederates endures: anyone who seeks an Edenic Southern past in which the war was principally about states' rights and not slavery is searching in vain, for the Confederacy and slavery are inextricably and forever linked ..... We cannot allow the story of the emancipation of a people and the expiation of America's original sin to become fodder for conservative politicians playing to their right-wing base. That, to say the very least, is a jump backward we do not need."

It is the responsibility of level-headed citizens to think clearly and resist being swayed by hate-filled harangues of the demagogues who are championing a "conservative" agenda (whatever "conservative" means these days -- but that will be the subject of another post.)