Are You Celebrating Confederate History Month?

On an annual basis,some people pay tribute to the Confederacy during the month of April.It is called "Confederate History Month".Personally,I find the whole concept to be very distasteful.Whether the descendants of Confederate soldiers want to admit it or not,the Confederacy will forever be associated with slavery.

That is why I find it offensive when I see someone toting a Confederate flag.I,for one,take no pride in America's racist past.And that is exactly what comes to my mind when I hear that word.Confederate is almost like a bad word to me.Because I cannot imagine what would have happened to folks like me had they won the Civil war.I shudder to think!I will never be able to honor the Confederacy or its history.

Here's an article from a 2004 edition of the Washington Times:

"However, some lawmakers and the state NAACP are criticizing the efforts to commemorate the Confederate half of the war, and called the resolution "offensive."

"When the state starts getting in the business of honoring the Confederacy, whose goal was African-American enslavement, we feel that has no place in the public domain," said King Salim A. Khalfani, executive director of the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "It brings to light the cause of the Confederacy and they were clear they wanted to maintain the institution and even expand it."

Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, Fairfax County Democrat, said the resolution was flawed, and asked it be renamed Civil War History Month. His efforts were unsuccessful.

"I'm not saying we should close the door on history," Mr. Saslaw said. He said he couldn't support celebrating a group of people who would have enslaved 20 percent of Virginia's population.

Mr. Saslaw, Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple, Arlington County Democrat, and Committee Chairman Thomas K. Norment Jr., Gloucester County Republican, voted against the resolution. No blacks sit on the committee.

However, the Rev. Wilson E. Shannon, a black minister from First Baptist Church in Richmond, said issuing the proclamation could stop the polarization of races.

"It's time we celebrate history in a way that shows parity," he said, alluding to the Black History Month that begins tomorrow. "There is pain when we investigate the past but also pride."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.