Eugene Robinson: The Confederacy Isn’t Something to Be Proud Of

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



The Confederacy Isn’t Something to Be Proud Of
Posted on Apr 12, 2010


By Eugene Robinson


It was bad enough when Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell proclaimed Confederate History Month without mentioning slavery, but at least he came to his senses and apologized. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour’s contention that the whole controversy “doesn’t amount to diddly” is much worse.

“I don’t know what you would say about slavery,” Barbour told CNN, “but anybody that thinks that you have to explain to people that slavery is a bad thing, I think that goes without saying.”

And that’s the problem—Barbour thinks it “goes without saying.” The governor of the state whose population includes the highest percentage of African-Americans in the nation believes it is appropriate to “honor” those who fought for the Confederacy. Clearly, he has no problem with revisiting the distant past. Yet he sees no reason to mention the vile, unthinkable practices—state-sanctioned kidnapping, torture and rape—that those Confederate soldiers were fighting to protect.

It amounts to much more than “diddly” that so many Americans try hard to avoid coming to terms with the reality of slavery. It wasn’t just “a bad thing.” Littering is a bad thing. Slavery was this nation’s Original Sin, and yet many people will not look at it except through a gauze of Spanish moss. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_confederacy_isnt_something_to_be_proud_of_20100412/

[HereSince1628]

1. Personally, this nation's original sin was hubrice that europeans were superior and entitled

to live out that superiority. Hubrice underlies colonialism, it enabled and still enables the treatment of the first Americans, it enabled slavery and still enables the mistreatment of minorities, it enabled and still enables the exploitation and degrading of the landscape.

[ixion]

2. Indeed...

This hubris, a.k.a. the so-called "White Man's Burden" will most certainly be our undoing.

And stirring this pot is a bad idea, in my opinion.

[Ian David]

3. They lost. They should get over it.

[TexasObserver]

4. recommend

[Jefferson23]

5. Every time I think the Republicans could not stoop any lower, they prove me wrong. n/t