There’s been much discussion in the Virginia blogosphere over the report of a proposed joint resolution by the Virginia legislature that would apologize for the Virginia’s role in the slave trade.
Of all the comments I’ve read though, this one from Vivian Page is the one that hits it on the head:
Virginia played a tremendous role in the slave trade. Richmond was part of what is known as the Slavery Triangle. The other two cities were Benin, Africa and Liverpool, England. Under the cover of darkness, the slaves were moved along a trail, shackled together with the men in the back. I have walked that trail and it is an amazing experience.
After the importation of slaves was outlawed in the US, Virginia?s cash crop became slaves. The climate in Virginia was less conducive to the growing of cotton than in states further south, so Virginia bred and exported them.
This is the same state that prides itself as being the birthplace of American liberty. That is a legacy it rightly deserves. But, unfortunately, the legacy of slavery exists as well and it’s something that must be dealt with.
I also like what Vivian says to those who say that she needs to just “get over it”
Somehow, I think this is a bit of a double standard. If I need to ?get over? slavery (despite the fact that the vestiges of slavery remain), then I think y?all need to ?get over? this obsession with the Confederacy.
Quite honestly, I’m a northerner and I’ve always been uncomfortable with the Confederate flags I still see in some parts of Virginia, or on the cars of people I see on the way to work in the morning. You aren’t citizens of the CSA, people, you’re American citizens.
That said, I think there are a few things that need to be said…..
I’m sorry people, but I just don’t buy it. The Confederacy was not some glorious lost cause. It was a nation built upon the idea that human beings were property…..and the people who founded it were, quite frankly, traitors. They fought a war and they lost. It’s over. And it’s been over for about 142 years.
The fact that the Confederate flag is even permitted to be flown is more a testament to the extent to which freedom of conscience extends in the United States than it is to the legitimacy of the cause itself.
If you think Southerners were traitors you obviously are a Northerner.
We, Southerners, forgive you for your bias and ignorance. But, we ask politely that before you put them into play politically in Virginia – where you moved to – you get educated.
Many Northerners thought the South were traitors, yet after the War of Northern Aggression why was no one – NONE – tried for treason?
Why did an Act of Congress designate Confederate Army veterans as U.S. Veterans?
The people who actually went through the horrible civil war understood the issues and the context of citizenship to (then) soveriegn states and the voluntary association of the United States.
Likewise, I’m confident that you don’t know that Virginia’s voluntary acceptance of this second (and current) Constitution included the right to seccession. It’s good law, which is why Jefferson Davis was sorely disappointed to not get a trial. Even in Radical Republican days he knew he would win in court. Words in laws have meaning.
I think we’ve got a few more decades to get behind us before this debate too grows silent.
Nobody’s arguing over the War of 1812, are they?
Thoughts On Virginia?s Slavery Apology
“Should Virginia apologize for slavery? Should we apologize to American Indians? I’m of Irish descent. Should we also apologize for the way Irish immigrants were treated when they came to America?” These are all questions of conservat…
I’m going to leave the selective history bit’s alone and go for the meat of the issue. I will use two quotes:
A) “If we keep bringing this up, bringing this up ? I think this is a harmful idea just to keep recycling this thing which we all know and all despise and have no respect for,” Hargrove
B) “I want to apologize to the mothers and fathers of my ancestors who were transported to this nation against their will in order that this nation might be built upon their backs, I want to apologize to the mothers and fathers of the civil rights generation who were hosed and bitten by dogs, and their children killed in churches as they burned, because of hatred that was put upon them. I want to apologize to them.” – Jones
Which statement is divisive, and which looks forward? It is possible to move forward without leaving the past behind you. An “apology” is a hollow act at this stage – with no meaning since the persons that committed the act AND those who were subject to it have passed. The act has been abolished, and understood to be inhumane – how much further do we need to take it?
It would be like me demanding an official apology from the governments of the United Kingdom, or Germany for the brutal oppression/torture of my forefathers – as recently as 1989. Is my claim more valid because it’s more recent? Or does it need not count because my ancestors moved on and decided to take advantage in the fortuitous twist of fate that set them free after centuries of servitude.
Slavery is a by-gone issue. Resolved. I’m actually shocked that the issue was brought up in this manner because it obscures where an apology would be better aimed – at the “Civil Rights Generation”. Those players in this life’s drama are still with us, and in many cases their struggle is still in play. However, instead of pursuing an open dialog where understanding could lead to a healing of wounds – we get to watch a hack politician stuff the issue with gunpowder and ride the 20 second sound bite train to more racially fueled re-election fund.
If that’s your idea justice then your dictionary is more warped then your historical fiction. You’ve got some good idea’s here, but your woefully short on facts and your leaps of assumption and sensitivity are disturbing.
I truely beleive that an apology is just going to fuel the fire! I live in Virginia; but I have lived long enough with all races to know, that Blacks keep the racism going!!! Only so they can play the RACE CARD when it suit them. I am Cherokee and my people were slaughtered and had their land taken from them! You sure don’t see a Native American Month… I don’t see where most blacks want this Country to UNITE because alot of them such as Jesse Jaskson, Al Sharpton and all your NAACP activist have gotten RICH on being BLACK and we all know they are no longer the minority! As far as the CONFEDERACY goes it is as much of America as anything. Do your homework and learn just exactly what Lincoln’s agenda was. I’ll never understand why people think he was so great? But just think if by chance we get a black president, maybe it would cause the main stream blacks to stop playing the race card.
(It was a nation built upon the idea that human beings were property…..and the people who founded it were, quite frankly, traitors)This comment is as ingnorant as you can get.I think it’s clear in this more informed and enlightened age,and today’s scholarship proves it:The south was fighting for their idea of liberty and self-determination and culture.While the north was fighting in order to convert the Federal Government from one agent of the whole people,including the south,into an agent of the North’s mercantile and moneyrd interests.