Not only did McDonnell revive the proclamation, but the new language removes a line inserted by Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore in 1999 recognizing 'that slavery was one of the causes' of the Civil War. Va. gov ripped for Confederate month

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proclaimed celebration of Confederate History Month—without a mention of slavery— set off a full day of full-throated criticism Wednesday, including a slam from a major Virginia newspaper that endorsed the Republican during his campaign for the state’s highest office and the head of the NAACP.

Most of the criticism of what McDonnell had described essentially as a tourism promotion, centered not on taking note of the confederacy, but in doing so without reference to the issue of slavery, as some of his predecessors had been careful to do.


“Although his proclamation quite properly recognizes the sacrifices of those who fought on behalf of the Confederacy, a hole lies in the statement's heart,” said the Richmond-Times Dispatch in an editorial.

“McDonnell speaks of shared history, yet does not cite slaves. Southern heritage includes not only those who supported the Confederacy but those who welcomed the Union armies as liberators. McDonnell recognizes that the past must be interpreted within the context not only of its times but of ours. The inexcusable omission reduces the slaves and their descendants to invisibility once again.”

Gov. Bob McDonnell's "party should be gravely concerned,” said Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP in an interview in POLITICO’s Arena forum. “They can’t be the party of Lincoln and deny the legacy of slavery in this country or give it short shrift.”

“Our primary concern is the decision to exclude the language about slavery ... it’s whitewashing at best and rolling the clock back at worst to exclude that language, especially in these times. These are times that are increasingly racist and far right wing.

“You can look from the halls of Congress … to education by attempting to remove civil rights history from textbooks, and tea party rallies; you see this as a movement that is both far right-wing in its orientation and in one way or the other, treats black people in a way that is second-class….“It’s not about being politically correct, but being correct. You can’t talk about the confederacy and the Civil War and not talk about slavery. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

McDonnell said Tuesday that the move was designed to encourage tourism in the state, noting that next year marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.

“April is the month,” the declaration begins, “in which the people of Virginia joined the Confederate States of America in a four-year war between the states for independence that concluded at Appomattox Courthouse. ...”

About 20 percent of Virginia's population is African-American. The state’s two most recent Democratic governors did not issue a proclamation, which had been revived in Virginia by GOP Gov. George Allen in 1997. And the new language of Mc Donnell’s proclamation removes a line inserted by Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore in 1999 recognizing “that slavery was one of the causes” of the Civil War.

“I hope [McDonnell] will revise that proclamation to give an inference to who Virginians really are, and what they feel is celebratory,” said former Virginia Democratic Gov. L. Douglas Wilder in an interview with POLITICO’s Arena’ forum.

“How can you say that something that was detrimental and antithetical to [African-Americans’] being is something that anyone could be celebrating?” added Wilder, the first African-American to be elected the state's governor.

Virginia’s Legislative Black Caucus and the Virginia chapter of the NAACP condemned the proclamation on Tuesday.

In a statement, Virginia Del. Kenneth Alexander, who serves as chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus said “Gov. McDonnell's proclamation was offensive and offered a disturbing revision of the Civil War and the brutal era that followed. Virginia has worked hard to move beyond the very things for which Gov. McDonnell seems nostalgic.”

Democratic state Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple said on MSNBC Wednesday that “Gov. McDonnell’s proclamation is very troubling to me and many others because it only portrays one side of the story.”

“We can’t just erase part of our history by ignoring it and glossing over it. It’s just wrong,” she said.

Terry McAuliffe, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to oppose McDonnell, noted that "Gov. [Mark] Warner and Gov. [Tim} Kaine chose not to issue this declaration. It’s not that they didn’t have respect for our history. But they realized that as governors we’re a multi-ethnic, multi--racial state."

"This is not helpful for us to create jobs in this state,” he said in the Arena. “We want to send an inviting message to people throughout the world. No, it’s not going to bring tourism to the state."

Former Gov. Kaine, now chairman of the Democratic National Committee, issued his own statement late Wednesday.

“Governor McDonnell’s decision to designate April as Confederate History Month without condemning, or even acknowledging, the pernicious stain of slavery or its role in the war disregards history, is insensitive to the extraordinary efforts of Americans to eliminate slavery and bind the nation’s wounds, and offends millions of Americans of all races and in all parts of our nation," Kaine said.

“In recent years, Virginia has broken the back of segregation, become the first state in America to elect an African-American governor, passed a unanimous General Assembly resolution expressing profound regret for "the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history," and cast its electoral votes for President Obama. Neither America nor Virginians want to go backward.

“A failure to acknowledge the central role of slavery in the Confederacy and deeming insignificant the reprehensible transgression of moral standards of liberty and equality that slavery represented is simply not acceptable in the America of the 21st century.”

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