Virginia Finally Addressing Its Racist Past

In its own sarcastic and gleeful way, Wonkette has reported that the Virginia Senate just voted to end the abomination that was Lee-Jackson Day-- a state holiday commemorating Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.  Both men fought on the asshole side of the Civil War.  

Lee-Jackson Day was merely an insult to Virginia's black population until 1983, when it also became an exercise in pettiness. That's when the Virginia legislature merged the holiday with the new federal holiday for Martin Luther King, who neither owned slaves nor waged bloody war against the United States.  It was billed as "Lee-Jackson-King Day" in supposed honor of "defenders of causes," one racist and treasonous, the other actually reflective of America at its best.  This went on until 2000 when the two holidays were finally separated.  Lee-Jackson Day was observed the Friday before MLK Day, so Virginians could kick off their four-day weekend with a Civil War-themed parade and a gala ball!  Fiddle-dee-dee, Miss Scarlett!

Virginia will replace Lee-Jackson Day with a state holiday for Election Day.  This is seemingly a vast improvement, as presumably we want to encourage people to vote, not own other people.  Republican Sen. Mark J. Peake argued for preserving Lee-Jackson Day, pleading, "We can promote everyone, we can promote diversity. We can add things without taking away or tearing down other things."

Oh, boo hoo! Conservatives suddenly hop on the diversity bandwagon when it comes to honoring white supremacists -- and not even successful ones.  We already honor slave owners who won wars-- why should we give out participation trophies for white supremacists who had their asses kicked?

We should never forget Lee, Jackson or the atrocities they committed, but there's no reason we should celebrate them -- certainly not in the same breath as Dr. King, who dreamed of freedom for all.