Va. Governor Revives Confederate History Month

(April 7) -- Celebrating the Confederacy is no longer a lost cause.

For nearly a decade, Virginia has quietly declined to mark its secession from the union. But on Tuesday -- days before the anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War -- Gov. Bob McDonnell declared April as Confederate History Month in Virginia for the first time since 2001.

The proclamation, written in formal tones and posted on the Republican governor's Web site, declares Confederate history something "all Virginians can appreciate," but critics noted it fails to mention slavery -- an omission for which the governor later apologized.

"It is important for all Virginians to reflect upon our Commonwealth's shared history, to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present," the proclamation says.

Among civil rights groups and bloggers, there was disgust and astonishment.

After almost 10 years in which the state's Democratic governors successfully ignored the April 12 anniversary of the outbreak of the war -- and two years into the nation's first black presidency -- many are struggling to understand why such a blatantly antiquated tradition has risen again.

L. Douglas Wilder, the first black to be elected Virginia governor, called it "mind-boggling to say the least." He told The Washington Post that "it's one thing to sound a cause of rallying a base," but "quite another to distort history." The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and the Virginia NAACP condemned the proclamation.

Others said it was simply a nod to McDonnell's conservative supporters.

"It helps him with his base," Mark Rozell, a political scientist at George Mason University, told the Post. "These are people who support state's rights and oppose federal intrusion."

McDonnell said the proclamation was simply a way to boost tourism ahead of next year's 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.

He said he chose not to include any reference to slavery because "there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues," he told the Post on Tuesday. "But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia."

And that's exactly the historical posturing that's left some with a bad taste. Critics expressed surprise that McDonnell, who fashioned himself as the "Jobs Governor" during his election campaign last fall, would embrace such a potent, racially charged symbol.

"It's difficult to understand why Mr. McDonnell, who in his inaugural address paid eloquent homage to former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the grandson of slaves, and spoke movingly of slavery's evils, would now trade in such glaring historical omissions," a Washington Post editorial asserted. "Charitably, we might suspect sloppy staff work; less charitably, we'd guess he is pandering to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group that lionizes the Confederacy and pressed for the proclamation."

On its Web site, the Sons of Confederate Veterans refers to the Civil War as the "Second American Revolution."

Bloggers accused McDonnell of whitewashing history.

"Wasn't slavery part of that history that's so important to an understanding of how the past has led to the present?" NPR's Frank James asked.

At The American Prospect, Adam Serwer went further. "Not only does McDonnell venerate those who took up arms against their own country," he wrote, "he does so without acknowledging that the institution for which they fought was the right to preserve the right to own human beings as slaves."

McDonnell said he didn't intend for the proclamation to stir up controversy.

"I felt just as I've issued dozens and dozens of other commemorations, that it was something that was worthy of doing so people can at least study and understand that period of Virginia history and how it impacts us today," he told the Post.

In a statement released today, McDonnell apologized for not mentioning slavery.

"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. The abomination of slavery divided our nation, deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights, and led to the Civil War," said the statement posted on McDonnell's Web site.

The statement also said that language would be added to the proclamation recognizing slavery as "an evil and inhumane practice that deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights and all Virginians are thankful for its permanent eradication from our borders."

But some said the revival of Confederate History Month is no political gaffe, but part of a renewed push by Republicans to use race to play to their conservative base. The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates, for example, said today's GOP has created the perfect climate for historical revisionism:

"If you believe that if we still had segregation we wouldn't 'have had all these problems,' this is the movement for you. If you believe that your president is a Muslim sleeper agent, this is the movement for you. If you honor a flag raised explicitly to destroy this country then this is the movement for you. If you flirt with secession, even now, then this movement is for you."

Coates called the GOP "the party of choice for those who believe global warming is a hoax, that humans roamed the earth with dinosaurs, and that homosexuals should work harder at not being gay."

McDonnell did not immediately respond to a request from AOL News for an interview Wednesday.