Thaindian News

April 7, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): Governor of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell, has breathed life into a disagreement that had been inactive for eight years. He has proclaimed that April will be the Confederate History Month in Virginia. This is a decision that has enraged the campaigners for civil liberties. However, the political experts have stated that this decision will fortify the Governor’s position within his traditional ideological base.

The two previous Democratic governors had declined to release the mostly figurative announcement venerating the soldiers who fought for the South in the Civil War. McDonnell (R) has resurrected a convention that had been commenced by the Republican governor, George Allen, in 1997. McDonnell counted out the anti-slavery idiom that Allen’s successor, James S. Gilmore III (R), had incorporated in his declaration.

McDonnell had voiced on Tuesday that the decision was intended to endorse tourism in the state, which will observe the 150th anniversary of the start of the civil war. McDonnell has divulged that he did not position a suggestion to slavery since there were many facets to that war between the states. Slavery, undeniably, was one of the aspects. It involved other subjects too. But McDonnell has stated that he concentrated on the issues that he thought were of utmost significance for Virginia.

The announcement was disparaged by the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and the NAACP. Former governor, L. Douglas Wilder, referred to the announcement as astonishing since McDonnell did not indicate slavery or Virginia’s battle for civil rights in his announcement. Though a Democrat, Wilder has been in support of McDonnell and even beefed up his election endeavors when he rejected to sanction the Republican’s adversary, R. Creigh Deeds.

Wilder has stated that the Confederate history is beset with many saddening things that, regrettably, have not been mentioned in an announcement of this kind. Wilder has voiced that it is one thing to bolster and solidify your support base. But it is quite another to misrepresent history and inflame racial tensions.