Bob McDonnell Apologizes For Slavery Omission In 'Confederate History Month' Proclamation

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's apologized on Wednesday for declaring April as "Confederate History Month," but failing to mention slavery anywhere in his proclamation.

"The proclamation issued by this Office designating April as Confederate History Month contained a major omission. The failure to include any reference to slavery was a mistake, and for that I apologize to any fellow Virginian who has been offended or disappointed," McDonnell said in a statement.

The newly-minted GOP governor added: "The Confederate History Month proclamation issued was solely intended to promote the study of our history, encourage tourism in our state in advance of the 150th Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, and recognize Virginia's unique role in the story of America."

But earlier, McDonnell told the Washington Post that slavery was not "significant" enough to be included in the proclamation:

McDonnell said Tuesday that the move was designed to promote tourism in the state, which next year will mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the war. McDonnell said he did not include a reference to slavery because "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."

Though the declaration of "Confederate History Month" in Virginia is not a new idea, McDonnell's recent Democratic predecessors chose not to recognize the celebration. Prior proclamations have also been more careful about the sensitive nature of the historical period.

Former Republican Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore explicitly mentioned slavery in his 1999 declaration of "Confederate History Month," and though his predecessor, Republican George Allen, neglected to recognize slavery in a similar proclamation, he apologized after coming under heavy fire from civil rights activists.

According to the Washington Post, McDonnell's proclamation was initially condemned by the NAACP, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and former Virginia Gov. Former L. Douglas Wilder, the first African American to be elected Governor, among others. And there were more condemnations on Wednesday.

Before McDonnell issued his apology, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which endorsed McDonnell during his run for Governor, published a harsh rebuke of the wording in McDonnell's proclamation:

"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."

Democrat Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television and a supporter and major contributor to McDonnell during the gubernatorial campaign condemned the proclamation:

"I must condemn Governor McDonnell's Proclamation honoring 'Confederate History Month,' and its insensitive disregard of Virginia's complicated and painful history, the remnants of which many Virginians still wrestle with today.

"The complete omission of slavery from an official government document, which purports to be a call for Virginians to 'understand' and 'study' their history, is both academically flawed and personally offensive. If Virginians are to celebrate their 'shared history,' as this proclamation suggests, then the whole truth of this history must be recognized and not evaded."

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine also released a statement in response to McDonnell's initial failure to acknowledge slavery:

"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.

"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."

Comments

[Holly Rodriguez]

01:31 PM on 04/12/2010

Clearly, there is a knowledge gap in Civil War History - African American history is routinely minimized, if considered at all. The need to tell a more accurate and inclusive story led to an initiative in the City of Richmond, Va., to explore the Civil War from a more comprehensive perspective, through an initiative called The Future of Richmond's Past.

As there is a clear need in Richmond, Virginia and the United States to include the information about the suffering and triumph of African Americans during one of the most turbulent times in our nation's history, this Saturday, April 17, The Future of Richmond's Past has organized a commemoration called Civil War & Emancipation Day, granting residents free access to museums, sites, discussions and events created to present a more truthful, comprehensive perspective of the Civil War. Slavery will be addressed in addition to Confederate history, through discussions, exhibits and tours.

I will be participating in the event, along with my 4-year-old daughter, 7-year-old nephew and other family members. It is important, I believe, to tell the truth behind the African American experience during the Civil War and beyond, and expose the African American experience during this time.

For more info on Richmond's Civil War & Emancipation Day, visit the event page on Facebook: http://ow.ly/1xsmC.

Visit The Future of Richmond's Past on Facebook: http://ow.ly/1xsic or the website at http://www.futureofrichmondspast.org.

Holly Rodriguez

[ForVivi]

06:06 PM on 04/11/2010

As important as it is to not forget history, we must not get stuck in the past.

Our world is becoming more and more interdependent.

Like walls and fences, nationalism will no longer protect us from the "enemy" because in many cases we are the enemy.

Identity must go beyond the regional story and move forward to survival of the species.

[capitaldysfunction]

04:04 AM on 04/11/2010

Opps. Trying to create a moderate image for a presidential run kind of fell on its face when Governor Bob McDonnell first tried to say slavery wasn't a big enough deal to warrant including in the proclamation, then included it when he realized his faux pas.

I've known moderates before, Governor Bob. And you ain't no moderate.

[Reedo1981]

03:20 PM on 04/10/2010

"As for the South, it is enough to say that perhaps eighty per cent. of her armies were neither slave-holders, nor had the remotest interest in the institution. No other proof, however, is needed than the undeniable fact that at any period of the war from its beginning to near its close the South could have saved slavery by simply laying down its arms and returning to the Union."
Major General John B. Gordon, from his book, Causes of the Civil War.

Got this from another comment section and thought it cemented the fact that the war wasn't only about slavery.

[1murillo]

02:06 PM on 04/09/2010

McDonnell, with both his proclamation, and his weak apology, continues to remove himself from any GOP 2012 ticket. He was a "young" politician given a chance by the Republicans - note that he was chosen to respond to the State of the Union speech - but he shows his backward thinking on a monthly basis. The GOP is still looking.

[1murillo]

02:01 PM on 04/09/2010

McDonnell issues a non-apology apology, "I apologize to any fellow Virginian who has been offended or disappointed," he said.
Btw, he inserted somewhere, there were thousands of slaves in VA history.

[GLT21]

12:13 PM on 04/09/2010

Also, the Gov. left out the part where the confederate got their as handed to them by the north.

[McFlipFlop]

11:56 AM on 04/09/2010

"But as a white southerner old enough to remember the final years of Jim Crow, when every month was Confederate History Month, I have a better idea for [VA Gov Bob] McDonnell: Let’s have a Neo-Confederate History Month that draws attention to the endless commemorations of the Lost Cause that have wrought nearly as much damage as the Confederacy itself.

It would be immensely useful for Virginians and southerners generally to spend some time reflecting on the century or so of grinding poverty and cultural isolation that fidelity to the Romance in Gray earned for the entire region, regardless of race. Few Americans from any region know much about the actual history of Reconstruction, capped by the shameful consignment of African Americans to the tender mercies of their former masters, or about the systematic disenfranchisement of black citizens (and in some places, particularly McDonnell’s Virginia, of poor whites) that immediately followed."

http://www.tnr.com/blog/ed-kilgore/neo-confederate-history-month

[BlackWidowPilot]

12:40 PM on 04/09/2010

Seconded. For what it's worth, the following is what I sent to Herr McDonnell via his official contact page when this story broke:

Mr. McDonnell,

by declaring "Confederate History Month," what you have done is no less than declare an official month for your state to "celebrate" a society founded upon *slavery,* a society that rebelled against the lawful governance of the democratically elected government of the United States of America in order to keep human beings in chains for no other excuse than the color of their skins.

Mr. McDonnell, you are a disgrace to every decent American including Americans of color who have shed their blood for our liberty since the Revolution. Your transparent appeal to your fellow Southern white *racists* is obvious to the likes of Ray Charles (ie., a dead blind man).

If I suspected that you had a wisp of a shred of human decency left in you, I would ask you to do the right thing and resign your elected office, and retire to a monastery.

However, in light of your actions to date including this despicable pandering to the partisans of Segregation, Jim Crow, and the Klu Klux Klan, I entertain no such illusions. You are by your own choosing simply and clearly morally bankrupt beyond redemption.

God pity you.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

Proud Son of a WW2 US Marine

[McFlipFlop]

07:21 PM on 04/09/2010

Very well said. Great letter!

[BlackWidowPilot]

12:43 PM on 04/09/2010

My point is this: we must forgive when appropriate, when possible, and repair the damage as best we can, as long as it takes, but to paraphrase Winston Churchill, we must never, never, never, never forget the past, lest we be doomed to allow some future tyrant(s) to repeat it, to our everlasting collective sorrow.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[nixrox04]

11:33 AM on 04/09/2010

Scratched Virginia off my states to visit.

[FunkyMaverick]

10:37 AM on 04/09/2010

NO MATTER WHAT THIS PRESIDENT DOES ..

- run into a burning building and bring out a child to save their life
- give a tax cut so that nobody pays ANY taxes
- FREE health care for ALL
- A FREE house for everyone
- CURE cancer
- EXPAND the military and bo.mb every last ter.ror.ist country on EARTH!

THE TE.AB.AGGERS AMD THEIR REPUBLICAN BREATHEN WOULD NOT BE SATISFIED ...

THEY CANNOT AND WILL NOT ACCEPT THEY LOST THE ELECTION OR THAT HE IS PRESIDENT

...and many (not all ) but MANY ..do not care so much that this Presidnet is a democrat ..

..but that he is black .

(in case you missed it ..take the time )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0y4L_Ue5HY&feature=popular

regards.
Funky.

[hallowellboy]

09:59 AM on 04/09/2010

Nice try by redneck McDonnell to legitimize hate and rewrite history. The Confederates were driven by greed, intolerance and self-interest. They were responsible for the deaths of many thousands of innocent young men from the North and the deaths of the Southern morons that believed in the "ideals" of the misguided Confederate leadership. A shameful proclamation from a shameful Governor.

[Carol Chromicky]

08:53 AM on 04/09/2010

I just watched two historians talk about this on CNN this morning.....the pro-Confederate History celebration said it wasn't necessary to bring up slavery because it was widely recognized, and then made the analogy to WW II and the Holocaust. You don't have to mention it each time, because we all know it.

IMAGINE if there was a declaration of a Nazi History Month in all of the former East Germany and they just wanted to celebrate their heritage and not mention the Holocaust, they just wanted to encourage tourism! Think about it........ really? Would that stand?

The anti-Confederate History month pointed out that slavery still has consequences around the world and in Virginia, there is a legacy of American slavery still being played out for descendents of that mindset. And Jim Crow is a not so distant memory. The use of the Confederate flag as a symbol is as powerful as the swaztika.

I think it is interesting that a white governor of the "Great Old Party" took out the slavery language, a conscious act , [that he has now furiously backpedaled from.] Governor Allen, another white GOP governor tried this and was called on it, too. This has put this out, once again, to drive a wedge between people in the South. This is an blatant use of our racial history to 'stir up the base,' a base that has shone some disturbing trends in the last few months.

[From the Raft]

10:02 AM on 04/09/2010

The Governor is just a gagget in all this. The decision to leave out slavery and African Americans from confederate history month was made by the socio-political/religious machine that elected him to stroke teabaggers in the state who elected him.

The newly minted governor is the first of a planned series to be produced by this machine which hopes to take over and form the "red state confederacy."

[senorlou]

08:38 AM on 04/09/2010

And Southerners wonder why they get a reputation. Unbelievable. It's like Germany having Nazi History month. I'm sure most white Virginians were all for his comments, since they are the ones who voted him in. Truly embarrassing, but I can understand in a way. My governor is Arnold. Oh god, I'm nauseous even posting that.

[LouEstes]

09:03 AM on 04/09/2010

Where in the world did all the education money go in the south for over 50 years? I have no doubt they had educational funds and all I can say is, those funds did not go towards educating. En masse there seems to be a true void in critical thinking capacity.

[From the Raft]

10:03 AM on 04/09/2010

The money went for football, cheer leading and buying rebel flags.

[McFlipFlop]

12:23 PM on 04/09/2010

So much of what people believe is passed down through their parents. I attended public schools here in Texas. My critical thinking skills are excellent, but my parents were hardworking liberals with strong morals and high intellects.

[DovS]

08:30 AM on 04/09/2010

States' rights are certainly something we should try to protect. But rights issues are often complicated by the conflict between different rights.

Today, if we had to choose between states' rights and human slavery, the choice would be clear and obvious.

But back then, the idea that people from Africa were "real" people who should have equal rights was such a radical concept (as it would have to be for slavery to happen in the first place), that the choice was not as obvious to everyone.

Given that, I suppose it really was not very "significant" in the Civil War in the sense that it is true that proponents of slavery did not themselves consider the lives or rights of Africans to be of any significance, thus allowing them to consider states' rights to be the more important issue.

[NaturesGodsSeeker]

08:25 AM on 04/09/2010

Governor McDonnell knew exactly what he was doing. It's called "historical revision". Luckily, there are intelligent Americans out here that won't let him get away with it.

[From the Raft]

10:06 AM on 04/09/2010

The Governor was just following history as written in books approved by the Texas School Board.