Leave Civil War History to the Historians

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's decision to issue a proclamation declaring April as "Confederate History Month" will only hurt the GOP in the long run.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is in the news for reviving the tradition of issuing a proclamation declaring April as "Confederate History Month."  His two Democratic predecessors did not issue such a proclamation.

Not surprisingly, this is causing a bit of a stir among civil rights groups.  David Frum, who has the proclamation in full, thinks the document is "anodyne" and not endorsing slavery.

Looking at the document, it does seem rather bland, and I doubt that McDonnell is trying to start some kind of culture war or as Frum said a lust for Confederate nostalgia.

But while it may be "inoffensive" on one level, it is still pretty bad and will hurt the GOP in the long run.  As James Joyner notes, this will open up old racial wounds:

I agree with McDonnell and SCV spokesman Brandon Dorsey that the legacy of the Civil War is complicated and I understand the desire to honor the sacrifices of one’s ancestors and to remind people that the war was about more than slavery and that, in any case, the men who fought it — on both sides — were motivated by other issues. Even in the north, the war was about Union, not abolition.

But proclaiming Confederate History Month, much less after it had ceased being customary, reopens old wounds while doing next to nothing to heal them.  The classic Simpsons answer, “Slavery it is, sir!” is what people will remember about the war.  And flying the Confederate flag and otherwise glorifying the war is simply offensive to most black Americans and quite a few others.   And, as Hardy Jackson, as ardent a lover of the South as any man alive, taught me, it’s simply bad manners to go around hurting people’s feelings for no good reason.

While this statement might be "meaningless" it does make it look like, yet again, Republicans don't care about African-Americans.  I don't think McDonnell did this to hurt the feelings of African-American Virginians, but it does that just the same.  While there might have been other causes that helped start the Civil War, we all know the main cause was slavery.  Issuing a proclamation for people who for the most part supported keeping my ancestors in chains is a tad bit offensive and is hurtful.  The proclamation allows blacks to believe that the GOP does not care about them.

The best thing that McDonnell could have done is just not issue a proclamation.  Leave the history of the Civil War to the historians.