The South will rise again (but not like this)

It was the darkest time in our nation's history: four years of brother fighting brother. The Civil War started and ended in the month of April — in 1861 and 1865. So it's only natural to remember this during April, right?

That's what Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said last week when he declared each April to be Confederate History Month.

"This defining chapter in Virginia's history should not be forgotten, but instead should be studied, understood and remembered by all Virginians, both in the context of the time in which it took place [and] in the context of the time in which we live."

McDonnell further noted that next year is the 150th anniversary of the start of the war, and that his state is expecting a lot of tourists. Virginia is where most Civil War battles were fought, as Confederate troops tried to make their way to Washington, DC, and keep Union troops away from the Confederate capital of Richmond.

But why were they fighting in the first place? The South was facing more and more compromises and restrictions on slavery. As for Virginia, it was where the U.S. slave economy had started in 1619, and it was the state with the most slaves — half a million at the time of the Civil War.

(White) Southerners often say the war was fought to defend the Southern way of life. This term today encompasses many things — things like food and idioms and stories unique to the South. It includes the way Southerners tolerate their hot, humid climate — by speaking slowly, walking slowly, and sitting on the front porch instead of in the living room. It refers to a culture of politeness, hospitality, neighborliness and a regard for ceremony and high society.

In 1861, however, "the Southern way of life" meant only one thing: living comfortably while forcing black people to do hard labor. When the governor was told he'd failed to mention this, he quickly added an acknowledgement that slavery was evil. But this wasn't enough for some African-Americans, including CNN political commentator Roland Martin.

Martin was incensed as he debated Brag Bowling of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the organization that had asked Governor McDonnell to make the proclamation.

"That's like someone ... saying, 'Let's celebrate Nazi soldiers for simply doing their job," Martin said. "These folks committed treason by taking up arms against the United States. You celebrate that? They were domestic terrorists!"

Bowling acknowledged that "no sane person in the 21st century supports slavery" and said his organization honored his ancestors' service, not their views. "[The Confederate soldier] wasn't a politician. He was a soldier," Bowling said.

As the debate went on, a strange similarity began to appear. Both men represented groups that felt they'd never been given the same respect as other Americans.

The South has always had an inferiority complex. Unlike the industrial and intellectual North, the rural South earned its wealth from an unhealthy product (tobacco) and an immoral labor system (slavery). After the Civil War, the North imposed its view of history on Southern politics and Southern textbooks. Ordinary Southerners, until very recently, were caricatured as uneducated yokels, often because of their accent.

Racists do sometimes claim the symbols of the Confederacy; but these symbols, and the slogan "The South will rise again", now usually express nothing more than a hope that the South will finally be treated with respect. This can certainly happen — if interest is shown in all aspects of Southern history.