Worship of white supremacist treason runs deep in Virginia. On Wednesday, a state House subcommittee voted down two different proposals to allow the removal of Confederate statues and monuments. Not to require that removal, mind you, but simply to allow it when cities or towns wish to do so.
House Minority Leader David Toscano of Charlottesville filed a Confederate statue bill on behalf of his city, which was rocked by a violent white nationalist rally last summer sparked by the city’s push to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a prominent downtown park.
Toscano’s bill would have amended a state law that seemingly bars cities and counties from removing or altering any war memorial to let local communities make their own decisions about whether their statues should stay.
“This is not about erasing the past,” said Toscano, a Democrat. “This is about giving localities the ability to do what they want to do given their specific historic circumstances.”
The quality of the arguments against allowing celebrations of slavery to be removed was … wow.
Several pro-statue speakers denounced the bills as part of a cultural purge akin to burning books or destroying art. Ed Willis of Richmond argued that removing statues is unconstitutional because it discriminates against “Confederate national origin.”
Wouldn’t you love Ed Willis of Richmond to explain how that one squares with the immigration views it feels safe to bet he holds?
The Confederacy was a rebellion against the United States of America in defense of slavery. Remembering that history and erecting monuments to the generals who fought to preserve slavery are two very different things.