Yes Virginia, You are living in the Past

Congrats Virginia, you are a bunch of backwoods hicks! You've effectively made yourself look like racist fools in front of millions.

I'm not saying you are all racist fools, you're just doing a good job of attempting to make the Confederacy look like a good thing. And that's pretty darn foolish.

Now, don't get me wrong, I understand your Governor is pandering to the "conservative" base, but honestly, proclaiming a Confederate History month with no mention of slavery because "there were many issues at stake during the war" is pretty much a joke.

There were many issues at stake, almost all of them can be drawn back to slavery.

States rights? Slavery
Economic issues? The reliance of the southern economy on slavery and lack of an industrial base in the south.

Honestly, I cannot say how much this makes me sad. The attempted glorification of a horrible war, Americans slaughtering Americans mainly to protect states ability to choose to ENSLAVE other human beings is disheartening.

As America becomes ever more polarized this sort of "hat-tip" to those that really don't need support is tragic.

I understand many people are sick of "Black History Month" or "Women's History Month." They have arguments such as "they didn't found the country, they didn't contribute as much..." etc. etc.

Besides the fact that blacks and women have contributed immensely to the economic, academic, and humane aspects of American life, one must remember that for more of this continent's history than not blacks were by and large enslaved and disenfranchised (which continues to be a problem even to this day) and women were blocked from positions of power.

Maybe to celebrate the bank's massive bonuses we should install a National Plutocrat Month where Ayn Rand is required reading and we learn all about Carnegie, Pulitzer, Morgan and others! Think of the fun that could be had in schools as we train children to be even better little consumers and that greed is not only good, its to be expected and encouraged!

Yay!

edit: Just so you don't believe I'm some "All things southern were awful." I'm not. There were many great southerners. Robert E. Lee first and foremost among them. That doesn't mean he made the right choice in joining the Confederacy. Nor does it mean that the Confederacy, the rebelling against the US to insure that states could choose certain things for themselves, such as keeping humans enslaved, was a good or noble memory.

I'm not asking for handwringing, sackcloth and ashes. I am asking please, lets keep the Confederacy and all of Antebellum American in perspective.