Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was backpedaling furiously after making a Confederate History Month declaration that ignored the horrors of slavery, saying it was “not significant enough” to include.
Civil rights leaders are understandably outraged by McDonnell’s proposal that would omit the portion that deals with hundreds of years of inhuman bondage, much less the millions of blacks that died during the TransAtlantic Slave Trade.
Equally shocking is the fact that McDonnell inexplicably did not include the state’s secession from the Union as part of the Confederate History Month proclamation, stating that he did not believe it was important enough to include in his proposition. However, when he spoke to the Washington Post, the governor transformed into a janitor with the way he tried to mop up his previous statements.
“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,” he said.
Not significant enough? And who was he referring to or speaking for when he said it was not important enough to include? Predictably enough, this Associated Press photo shows the governor being heartily endorsed by embattled black Republican National Committee chief Michael Steele.
Perhaps realizing how preposterous his statements sounded publicly and, more importantly, because of the blizzard of criticism lobbed at the governor, he offered profuse apologies and now he includes this as part of his proclamation: WHEREAS, it is important for all Virginians to understand that the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and inhumane practice that deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights and all Virginians are thankful for its permanent eradication from our borders, and the study of this time period should reflect upon and learn from this painful part of our history.
We don’t know which is more disturbing and laughable: the fact that McDonnell actually configured this declaration himself, or that he really believed that this would go over well with the black citizens of Virginia and the nation. –terry shropshire
