The Civil War and all related to it fit neatly into famed author William Faulkner’s dictum that, “The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past.”
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who recently issued a proclamation declaring April as Confederate History Month without mentioning slavery, should know that now. Ditto for Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who did the same thing, then argued that the furor that ensued over the omission “doesn’t amount to diddly.”
To the contrary, it amounts to a lot.
They, and we, were forcefully reminded that what occurred in the past — the Civil War, the Confederacy, for example — still can stir emotions. The legacy of that seminal event is difficult to escape. The uproar the proclamations prompted was immediate and loud.
Any official document perceived to bring positive attention to the ” Lost Cause” should prompt concern and controversy. Most blacks believe that a commemoration of the Confederacy — i.e. Confederate History Month — confirms the validity of a system that made their forebears slaves. A proclamation that honors Confederates without mentioning slavery, then, is doubly insulting. Even President Barack Obama, traveling in Europe at the time, let it be known that the omission of slavery from the McDonnell proclamation was “unacceptable.”