Enough is enough is enough. It is time for the ‘woke’ to go back to sleep
It is one thing for academics to spout addlebrained ideas that do not have even the simplest relationship to rational thinking, common sense, or for that matter, actual reality. We have become accustomed to the ever increasing distance between academia and the real world we actually inhabit.
That curious detachment of the conclusions of “higher education” and the willingness of messengers in the media to carry that message was writ large in Sunday’s Rappahannock News online edition.
The lead story, by Graham Moomaw of something called the Virginia Mercury, came in big bold print entitled, “Virginia lawmaker says it’s time to scrap the official Robert E. Lee license plate.” There is no response from anyone who opposes such an idea in the story. So much for balance and differing views.
A picture accompanying the Moomaw story is of one of the most senseless, large scale mob attacks in recent American history. It shows what was once considered one of the finest equestrian statues in the United States after it was attacked by hundreds of “activists,” seemingly being cheered on by the national media. It was the “politics of spray paint” writ large, and it occurred after law enforcement had been ordered to “stand down.” At a time when courageous, forceful leadership was mandatory, then Governor Ralph Northam seemed to have been hiding in the bunker.
That was a truly sad period for the Commonwealth. The righteous indignation of a “woke mob” seemed to thrill some of our local leftists, but it did serious damage to the hard earned racial progress that has been earned with real blood, sweat and tears over the decades since the 1950s.
As one who marched with Dr. King, and as one who was not only jailed, but shot at, assaulted and deaththreatened during the Civil Rights Movement, I believe I might have a voice at this table. I believe we all must have a voice at this table. Our national political parties have exacerbated our national debate to the point where there is no middle ground, no room for understanding and “empathy.” Both parties see themselves as the “good guys” and their opponents as the “bad guys.”
The only route I know to racial progress was taught to me by my Mama, who taught her four boys to “treat everybody the same.” If I’m not mistaken, that was also the Message of that Carpenter from Nazareth.
For the record, I am proud to say that I am descended from a 17th century Northampton County African slave. I have written (and sung) about growing up in Sugar Hill, an African
American community on the docks of Portsmouth, Virginia. Sugar Hill was on the Scott’s Creek side of a large railroad yard. That was in the days of strict segregation, Jim Crow, and yes, the KKK was still around. But nobody “messed with us.” Portsmouth was, and to some extent still is, one of the most segregated towns in Virginia. But if ancestry.com had been around in the 1940’s, I think most everyone would have realized they were all distant cousins.
The bill filed by Delegate Candi Mondon King to rid Virginia of “General Lee” license plates is based upon a very narrow and distorted view of American History. The Confederate States and Robert E. Lee were not guilty of “committing treason against the U.S.” This rabid over-simplification of the most serious crisis in our nation’s history is laughable. It is quite simply, politically correct “presentism,” bottled up as selfrighteousness.
Only one good thing came from that horrible and bitter conflict: The End of Human Slavery in the United States of America. It not only freed Black Americans. It freed all Americans. And Robert E. Lee said so, taking the lead in reconciliation with the Union.
In his First Inaugural Address, President Lincoln urged passage of the Corwin Amendment, which would have made slavery permanent in those states and territories where it already existed. You can look it up. But here is the gist of it:
Abraham Lincoln, in his first inaugural address on March 4, said of the Corwin Amendment: “I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution — which amendment, however, I have not seen — has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service ... holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.”
So, to those elected officials who think they can run guilt trips on American history in order to make themselves appear relevant, and to those journalists who amplify that sort of divisive grandstanding to display their “sanctimonious chops,” well, if you are going to make judgements on our shared past, then I suggest you do some serious homework beforehand. And that includes printing opposing views in your stories.
As for the Rappahannock News, I would suggest that you point hotshot journalists Moomaw and Yancey back to the big city. Nicely, of course. There are plenty of very fine journalists who are already here.