How has this not become an unacceptable symbol in our society? How is it that people are allowed to use some bullshit excuse of “heritage” or “pride” regarding this? I’d compare it to Nazism and swastikas but that’s really lost it’s meaning with the banal, ad nauseum usage they receive and because no one needs to prove Godwin’s Law to make this point. So how is it that elected officials who are, at least in theory, supposed to represent all his or her constituents allowed to embrace such a hateful and divisive symbol?
Virginian Governor Bob McDonnell, who has already shown his Commonwealth what he thinks of its gay constituents, has now proclaimed that this April is “Confederate History Month.” Now had this been a solemn proclamation instead of a dog-whistle celebration it would be fine, even encouraged. If “Confederate History Month” was meant to highlight the crimes of slavery, the bloody waste that was perpetrated to try and save it, and a reason for Black and white communities to come together and try to erase those divisions that are still with us today, I would applaud it. However, Governor McDonnell’s original proclamation did not even mention slavery but instead called the Confederacy, “this defining chapter in Virginia’s history.” Really? Of all the things that Virginia could be defined for in the history of the country you chose this? When asked why a “Confederate History Month” would exclude any mention of slavery, McDonnell responded, “there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia.” I suppose this shouldn’t be surprising as McDonnell chose to adorn his campaign booth at a gun show in 2009 with the Stars and Bars.
What is perhaps even more alarming is that McDonnell appears not to be an aberration. Indeed both Mississippi and Georgia have Confederate History proclamations that do not include mentions of slavery. With our country’s first African-American president and next year being the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, we should be on the lookout for even more references to secession, the Confederacy, and dog-whistle politics. The Confederacy is not something we should proud of and its symbols should not be given respect. But we should also not forget them, we need to remember it and learn from it, but never allow celebrations of it. McDonnell has since added a reference to slavery in his proclamation which is a step in the right direction but the romanticization that saturates the rest of it should disgust us all.