Is it time to end Lee-Jackson Day?
In the months after a shooting at an Charleston, S.C. Baptist church left nine African-American parishioners dead at the hands of a white supremacist, a systematic dismantling of Confederate symbols has swept across the South, from the removal of Confederate battle flags from public land and universities to the mothballing of statues.
Now, in the lead up to the federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday Monday, some say it's time to end Lee-Jackson Day, a Virginia holiday honoring two Confederate Army generals.
But for those who say that they are a necessary reflection of Southern pride and a celebration of history, abolishing these traditions is seen as political correctness run amok.
Often celebrated as part of a four-day weekend, 聽honors Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) and Thomas 鈥淪tonewall鈥� Jackson (1824-1863). Observation of Lee's birthday, Jan. 19, began around 1889. Jackson's remembrance was added to the holiday in 1904. Martin Luther King Day became a federal holiday on January 15 in 1983.
In Virginia, the holidays were merged as Lee-Jackson-King Day until 2000 when they became separate holidays. It was arranged so that Lee-Jackson Day was to be held on the Friday before Martin Luther King Day. But several state municipalities have , including Richmond, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Hampton, Lynchburg, and Norfolk.
Celebrations often include parades, Civil War battle reenactments, and memorial services.
Activist Michael J. Muhammad of Norfolk, Virginia, will be holding a rally titled in honor of civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., on Saturday.
鈥淭he fact that the MLK holiday run-up is being upstaged, polluted and degraded, by the Lee-Jackson Holiday is not lost on me,鈥� Mr. Muhammad says in an interview with 海角大神. 鈥淭here is a need to expose that. Because the position of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson is diametrically opposed to that of Dr. King.鈥�
Muhammad adds, 鈥淲ith the Confederate Flag coming down in South Carolina and other states and off the license plates here in Virginia to continue the recognition of that Confederate history and its effort to maintain slavery is unconscionable that we would continue to honor such a storied negative history.鈥�
鈥淭his is identity politics. It鈥檚 a terribly divisive thing that鈥檚 happening here,鈥� ,聽spokesperson for The (SCV) says in a Monitor interview. 鈥淎fter they remove every school name, every street name, every monument, and every affectionate reference to the South and its leaders from history it鈥檚 presentism, its cultural cleansing. It鈥檚 fascism is what that is.鈥�
鈥淟ee freed his slaves who were his wife鈥檚 slaves,鈥� he adds. 鈥淪tonewall Jackson started a Sunday school in Lexington for black people and it was against the law and he did it. But these things get lost in history.鈥�
Muhammad disagrees.聽"We as a people suffer under post-traumatic stress from what is recorded as the most traumatic event in the annals of history,鈥� he says . 鈥淭he trauma coming out of that has caused us to see ourselves as [suffering from] Stockholm syndrome 鈥� impassioned and in love with our captors and hateful of ourselves. The symptoms of that spill over in violence. We are more interested in a day off of work than eradicating this holiday. We are lambs led to the cultural slaughter.鈥�
