Confederate History Month: It’s a Celebration!

For the first time since 2001, Virginia's Republican Governor, Bob McDonnell? , proclaimed April as “Confederate History Month” and without mentioning slavery. Virginia is not the only state celebrating the Confederacy. Georgia, Texas and Mississippi, just to name a few, also celebrate Confederate History Month. It is somewhat reassuring that the President has openly criticized Virginia’s omission of slavery from its proclamation, considering that past Presidents reacted with silence whenever Southern States celebrated their Confederate heritage. The separation of the issues of slavery from Confederacy is not only a gross distortion of American History, but it also romanticizes an era marked with racism and human rights violations.

Governor McDonnell? soon apologized for the omission. However, he defended his initial position by stating that his intent was to honor the sacrifice of Confederate soldiers on Virginia soil and to promote tourism rather to focus on the issue of slavery. He originally chose not to mention slavery in his proclamation because he was “focused on the ones (he) thought were most significant for Virginia.” Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, was less apologetic and defended McDonnell? ’s omission of slavery claiming that the controversy was making “a big deal out of something that doesn't matter for diddly." Considering the seemingly undeniable tie of slavery and the Civil War, McDonnell? 's failure to mention slavery as a reason for the war was probably not a mere oversight. Instead, it seems to follow that, at least for McDonnell? and Barbour, the plight of Virginia’s slaves does not rank among the most significant aspects of the Civil War.

To many, the notion of celebrating the Confederate History probably sounds ludicrous. A national discussion of the Civil War’s history would be more educational than celebrating the Confederacy. Everyone should know and understand American history in it’s entirely. It is one thing to reflect, remember or mourn the human calamity that the institution of slavery brought onto America. But, celebrating the Confederacy that openly embraced slavery seems anachronistic to a 21st century America that overcame centuries of racism and even elected a black president. Perhaps this trend reflects an inherent,long existing, and suppressed racism that is simply resurfacing now.

The problem with the celebration of Confederate History Month is that it venerates the secessionist, slaveholding South. The Confederacy was a movement largely based on the buying and selling of human beings. No amount of sugar coating can change the reality that millions of slaves had their liberty and labor stolen to the benefit of white slave owners. Is this the heritage that gives Southerners so much pride?

To say that slavery was "only one" of the causes of the South’s secession from the Union is a myth. Slavery was the actual cause; other alleged causes were mere rationalizations. The following documents well demonstrates that Confederacy did not seek to protect “state rights” for their own sake, but as means to secure slavery. Fundamentally, the primary reason for secession was to maintain the institution of slavery.
Example 1: We Want No Confederacy without Slavery
Example 2:Mississippi Declaration of Secession
To honor the "principles" of the Confederacy is simply immoral. Would "Nazi Heritage Month" be tolerated in Germany? No. Governor McDonnell? ’s proclamation of Confederate History Month without mentioning slavery is like honoring German soldiers for their bravery in WWII without mentioning Nazism or the Holocaust. Today, most call Germans who fondly remember the happy memories of World War II Neo-Nazis.

Some argue that the state should celebrate Confederate Heritage in order to remember the death of thousands of Confederate soldiers. They point out that many Confederate soldiers were uneducated poor farmers trying to make a living. But we cannot focus on the individual acts of soldiers of many unjust forces in the world. Trying to make a living does not excuse their misdeeds. Those soldiers chose to defend a system of degradation called slavery, just like the Nazi soldiers were defending and perpetuating an evil genocide. The deaths of confederate soldiers do not call for celebration, only somber reflection.

The history of the Confederacy and the institution of slavery were national tragedies. Slaves were subjected to hangings, rape, murder, beatings, separation of families via auction etc. by rich and poor white Southerners alike. There is nothing to celebrate in Confederate History except the end of it. The Confederacy should be remembered, for sure, but it should not be celebrated. Rather, it should be a warning of what devastation and atrocity this country was once capable of inflicting on its own people.

People eager to participate in Confederate History Month have been flocking to Civil War reenactment sites. Since Virginia claims that Confederate History Month is a ploy to increase tourism, the following suggestions might help garner VA more visitors: enlist black actors to reenact scenes on a plantation complete with cotton picking and a white master cracking a whip on their backs. Indeed, the VA bureau of tourism might also want to have black child actors reenact scenes from the auction block with excited bidders yelling for more. And what Civil War Era reenactment would be complete without a white master/black female slave rape scene? This is the Confederacy that I know, and this is their legacy. So Virginia, put your “heritage” on display for the whole world to see.

-- KayKim - 01 Jun 2010