VA Governor Bob McDonnell Proclaims April Confederate History Month
by Tamika Williams

Bob McDonnell, governor of Virginia, said he proclaimed April as Confederate History Month to promote tourism. I must say this news makes me think I should stay as far away from Virginia as possible. When I see a Confederate flag, it brings up all sorts of feelings. None of them feelings of welcome. The feelings I feel are fear, anger, confusion and sadness. To me and many other black people, the Confederacy means slavery and racism. We think about white boys in pickup trucks, driving on dirt roads, burning crosses and painting swastikas. We think about KKK, police dogs, water hoses, and angry mobs. We think about "Go back to Africa nigger!" I think about the time I was driving in North Carolina and came around a bend only to find some kind of store with Confederate flags everywhere. I turned my little minivan around as quickly as possible and went the other way. Those flags said to me, "You don't belong here." But I'm sure McDonnell and the Sons of the Confederacy were not trying to encourage me to visit Virginia. I know many people who wear t-shirts with Confederate flags on them or drive those big monster trucks with the symbol on their front tags don't mean any harm. I know they aren't all racist. They don't all sing "I Wish I Was in Dixie" with nostalgia for slavery. I worry about what this proclamation means for the many who do. For those members of the Tea Party and right wing militias who do feel like "my people" have ruined "their country". For those people who want things back the way they were. Those people who feel secession is an option. I'm concerned about the feelings of hate that seem to be brewing in the last couple of years. I'm concerned about what it would mean for me if the South should rise again.