Making the state of Virginia more “equitable and inclusive” apparently means ripping down historical markers… aka tearing down Civil War memorials.
Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., signed a bill Saturday allowing individual localities to remove, relocate or contextualize Confederate statues and monuments within their communities. Localities can begin using these powers starting July 1.
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In a news release, Northam stated that the new laws will “make Virginia more equitable, just, and inclusive.”
Senate Bill 183 and House Bill 1537 effectively overturn Virginia’s prohibition on the removal of Confederate war memorials, and starting July 1, localities may remove, contextualize or relocate monuments as they wish.
Although the Senate bill initially required a vote by supermajority to ratify any decision regarding the monuments, the measures Northam signed do not require a supermajority vote for local action. Instead, localities may hold a nonbinding referendum to determine the fate of their communities’ monuments.
“Racial discrimination is rooted in many of the choices we have made about who and what to honor, and in many of the laws that have historically governed this Commonwealth,” Northam said.
In a press release sent out by Take ‘Em Down Cville, the Charlottesville-based affiliate of Monumental Justice Virginia — a group of Virginians advocating for local control of Confederate monuments — Bryant stated her support for this legislation.
“The signing of this landmark legislation is a monumental step in the direction of telling a fuller story of who we are,” Bryant wrote. “These Confederate monuments and other symbols of the Lost Cause should no longer control the narrative. No more odes to white supremacy and oppression.”
In an email to The Cavalier Daily, Delegate Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, who co-sponsored the house bill, described the passage of this bill as landmark legislation.
“Communities across the Commonwealth will finally have the freedom to reckon with our public history and decide for ourselves what to celebrate,” Hudson said. “There’s still so much work to be done, but this is a major milestone for all the advocates, activists, educators, and community leaders who elevated this urgent call together.”
Others point out the actual congressional history of laws passed concerning Confederate Veterans:
Congressional Act of 9 March 1906 ~ We Honor Our Fallen Ancestors
(P.L. 38, 59th Congress, Chap. 631-34 Stat. 56)
This act authorized the furnishing of headstones for the graves of Confederates who died, primarily in Union prison camps and were buried in Federal cemeteries. U.S. Public Law 810, Approved by 17th Congress 26 February 1929
(45 Stat 1307 – Currently on the books as 38 U.S. Code, Sec. 2306)
This law, passed by the U.S. Congress, authorized the “Secretary of War to erect headstones over the graves of soldiers who served in the Confederate Army and to direct him to preserve in the records of the War Department the names and places of burial of all soldiers for whom such headstones shall have been erected.” U.S. Public Law 85-425: Sec. 410 Approved 23 May 1958
Confederate Iron Cross (US Statutes at Large Volume 72, Part 1, Page 133-134)
The Administrator shall pay to each person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War a monthly pension in the same amounts and subject to the same conditions as would have been applicable to such person under the laws in effect on December 31, 1957, if his service in such forces had been service in the military or naval forces of the United States.
Remarks: While this was only a gesture since the last Confederate veteran died in 1958, it is meaningful in that only fifty-seven years ago, the Congress of the United States saw fit to consider Confederate soldiers as equivalent to U.S. soldiers for service benefits. This final act of reconciliation was made almost one hundred years after the beginning of the war and was meant as symbolism more than substantive reward. By the President of the United States of America ~
A Proclamation
The years 1961 to 1965 will mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the American Civil War.
That war was America’s most tragic experience. But like most truly great tragedies, it carries with it an enduring lesson and a profound inspiration. It was a demonstration of heroism and sacrifice by men and women of both sides who valued principle above life itself and whose devotion to duty is a part of our Nation’s noblest tradition.
Both sections of our now magnificently reunited country sent into their armies men who became soldiers as good as any who ever fought under any flag. Military history records nothing finer than the courage and spirit displayed at such battles as Chickamauga, Antietam, Kennesaw Mountain, and Gettysburg. That America could produce men so valiant and so enduring is a matter for deep and abiding pride.
The same spirit on the part of the people at home supported and strengthened those soldiers through four years of great trial. That a Nation which contained hardly more than thirty million people, North and South together, could sustain six hundred thousand deaths without faltering is a lasting testimonial to something unconquerable in the American spirit. And that a transcending sense of unity and larger common purpose could, in the end, cause the men and women who had suffered so greatly to close ranks once the contest ended and to go on together to build a greater, freer, and happier America must be a source of inspiration as long as our country may last.
By a joint resolution approved on September 7, 1957 (71 Stat. 626), the Congress established the Civil War Centennial Commission to prepare plans and programs for the nationwide observances of the one-hundredth anniversary of the Civil War, and requested the President to issue proclamations inviting the people of the United States to participate in those observances.
Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, do hereby invite all of the people of our country to take a direct and active part in the Centennial of the Civil War.
I request all units and agencies of government–Federal, State, and local–and their officials to encourage, foster, and participate in Centennial observances. And I especially urge our Nation’s schools and colleges, its libraries and museums, its churches and religious bodies, its civic, service, and patriotic organizations, its learned and professional societies, its arts, sciences, and industries, and its informational media, to plan and carry out their own appropriate Centennial observances during the years 1961 to 1965; all to the end of enriching our knowledge and appreciation of this momentous chapter in our Nation’s history and of making this memorable period truly a Centennial for all Americans.
Many people point out the hypocrisy of the move by Northam, given his blackface photos.
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