The Time Has Come
It's time. In fact, it's long past time. Our current situation is the result of having idly watched the time pass.
Virginia state politics is in chaos. We have now three of our most powerful statewide elected politicians embroiled in controversies resulting from the atmosphere and environment which has treated racism as both a topic up for debate and a tool to leverage votes, where it should instead be treated as a foundational pillar of democracy, eroding the ability of the state to meet the aspirational standards it espouses or the needs of its people.
The now steady flow of evidence revealing how deeply it is set into the culture of even our elite educational institutions, institutions that a good deal of the white members of the left have believed would "educate it out," can't be treated as a matter up for debate. Ralph Northam was a grown adult, already in the process of running for state wide office when he was taught blackface is plainly hurtful and has deeply racist roots, by a black man he employed. Tommy Norment has spent his adult life in Republican Party politics. He oversaw the creation and publishing of a yearbook that contained multiple racist images and remarks. Norment has been a power player in VA Republican politics for a long time, and this is only now coming to light because it's only now anyone thought to search the backgrounds of the people wielding the levers of VA government power for a connection to the culture of racism that VA has had for centuries. These are coming to light now, because it wasn't important enough to look for them before, and where they may have been found in the past, it wasn't important enough to reveal them.
Mark Herring has made the strategic move of coming out with his own connection to these racist practices, instead of having it revealed by someone else. Herring, it should be said, has what's probably the strongest record of attempting to advance the cause of civil rights. It should also be noted, Virginia is no different than the rest of the country in it's preference for grading the record of white politicians on a curve where the advancement of civil rights is concerned. Virginia has in fact helped create that preference.
Virginia has become the focus of national news. Voters in Virginia are left with a stark picture, but one that sharply outlines the reality that's been here for decades. Our government and politics are centered around two parties. Their power has come in large part from enhancing or ignoring the place white supremacy plays in our society, a place Virginia was fundamental in cementing.
One party, at the state and national level has been engaged in the attempt to advance the causes of white supremacy. The VA GOP couldn't have made it more clear than they did in the last election cycle by running Corey Stewart for one of Virginias two US Senate seats. Stewart is a Neo-Confederate who had helped elevate one of the organizers of Unite The Right to prominence in his earlier bid for governor. Across Virginia, Republican Party representatives have been engaged in preventing any real accounting for the history of the Commonwealth's place in creating white supremacy and the attendant mythology of the Lost Cause.
Virginia's Democratic Party has had the opportunity to present itself as the "not racist party," as a result of being able to stake out some territory in contrast. By being willing to nominate and run qualified candidates who also happen to be people of color, and by running candidates who don't have a previously documented history of racist behavior, by inheriting the history of political realignment which had the Dixiecrats of the past joining the Republican Party while the national Democratic Party took credit for the Civil Rights act, Virginia's Democratic Party has been able to straddle the gulf between racist policy and anti-racist policy by simply presenting itself as "not racist." The folly of existing in a society and culture steeped in white supremacy, which the Virginia has a singular history in creating, and relying on being "not racist" is now being exposed. The party of "not racist" has two of its most powerful elected officials exposed for participating in deeply racist behavior, because they were raised in the white supremacist culture that has gone to great pains to obscure or obfuscate how racist it is. Simply put, the VA Democratic Party now finds itself a good example of the common wisdom phrase "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."
The questions linger about what will or should happen with Virginias state government. If Northam and Herring resign, with Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax facing his own controversy and scandal rooted in the similar inability of the US and Virginia to grapple with the depth of its sexist legacy, control of the state government would fall to the Republican Party. The "not racist" party being deposed, would hand power over to the party which has backed the instincts and ideological stances of white supremacy since the 1960's.
Northam, for his part, seems to be making no move to resign. Mark Herring has signaled that he would essentially follow the will of Virginians, when there is some accounting of what that is.
As all of this has been grabbing national headlines, a sergeant in the Capitol Police has been put on leave pending an investigation into connections to a white supremacist organization. A scandal topped on a crisis, all founded in deep roots of white supremacy.
All of this has brought up questions, beyond the scope of this particular set of circumstances. Is there no forgiveness for people who've dedicated their lives to public service? Is there no redemption?
Of forgiveness, we've had plenty. Forgiveness has been inherent and retroactive, because there really hasn't ever been an effort toward redemption by Virginias state government. Redemption is the result of making right what's been wrong. Redemption is a result, not a request. This hasn't been part of the history of Virginia government and culture. The history is much more aligned with Virginia government and culture attempting to preserve the right to openly do harm, while actively preventing an accounting of harm previously don. That thread leads directly to members of elite institutions not having the slightest idea their actions are racist and harmful. There's no historical memory, action or price to refer to as an understanding of the price of the harm, so why should those being groomed to wield that amnesiac power know their actions are harmful?
This scandal Virginia now finds itself embroiled in, is bigger than Ralph Northam, Mark Herring or Tommy Norment. It's about the character and the culture of the Commonwealth. It is the result of never having made attempts to do anything that would result in redemption. It's also the probably the best opportunity to begin the process of redemption in our lifetime.
A perfunctory list of what Virginia has done to cement white supremacy as part of its culture, and as result, the culture of the United States is damning. To create a list of instances which highlight the repercussions effecting individuals would be a work of such staggering labor and effort that it would take teams of researchers a few generations to compile. A compilation based on the known history of the state government, its representatives and those actions taken by organizations centered here that have spread beyond the state borders is enough to demonstrate the point.
The first slave ships landed here in Virginia.
Virginia is the first colony to establish slave codes, which following rebellions, become sadistic to a degree that even given the history of slavery as an international institution, reach new depths of sadism and dehumanization.
Richmond becomes the capitol of the insurrection against the United States that is predicated on and dedicated to preserving slavery and white supremacy.
Virginia provides both the general and the army which is responsible for causing the most harm in defense of the institution of slavery, after said general abdicates his responsibilities to the US military.
In defeat, Virginia is central to opposing the establishment of anything resembling equality. The Lost Cause mythology is popularized by organizations here in Virginia, and following the federal governments abandonment of any attempts to see integration and Reconstruction accomplished, it's those organizations that are responsible for erecting monuments throughout the South and then the mid West, to spread both the mythology of the Lost Cause and to intimidate the Black population as symbols of white supremacy's ideological victory.
Virginia institutes a series of laws that are part of the larger Jim Crowe system through out the South. These laws become the basis for the white supremacist foundations of government and law enforcement to chronically and methodically criminalize the conditions of the Black community that Jim Crowe creates.
The eugenics movement finds its center here in Virginia. The founding premises of that movement would go on to be part of the genocidal efforts of Adoph Hitler and the Third Reich.
A representative of Virginia state government is responsible for coining the term "Massive Resistance" and popularizing it in the fight to prevent public school integration. That effort sees public schools across Virginia shuttered in favor of segregationist private schools and "segregation academies" many of which still exist today. Virginia provides the example followed by other states.
Virginia state government uses the creation of the federal highway system and federally subsidized housing to punish Virginias most successful Black business community, Jackson Ward.
Virginia state government fights the battle against interracial marriage, all the way to the Supreme Court.
This is the well known past history of Virginia. When this history, and the culture it has created are taken into account, it's clear that the forgiveness that has been so easily won it no way resembles redemption. Without redemption, it leads to our present.
Majority minority public schools are chronically underfunded and under served, the foundations of which can be seen directly resulting from Virginias efforts to prevent school integration, and white Virginians flight from geographic proximity to Black Virginians.
Virginias minority population is over represented in its jails and prisons, part of the legacy of the successful fight against Reconstruction that Virginia was central to. The legacy of Jim Crowe, itself the result of the 13th Amendment allowing rights to be stripped for anyone labelled "criminal," are plain to see.
Chronic under representation of Virginias Black and minority population in state government, partially resulting from Virginias felony disenfranchisement, itself a legacy of Virginias policing of Black and minority communities.
Like the rest of the country, access to health care, and health care outcomes are inordinately negative for Black Virginians and other Virginians of color. See Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottum's, most recent work for the effects of white supremacies dominant perspective on Black mothers during child birth. She does her research as a member of VCU staff.
Continued existence of "sun down towns" in Virginia. These are towns specifically known among Black Virginians as being places where being in public after sundown is likely to result in interactions with law enforcement.
Efforts by anti-racism activists and organizations to have Confederate monuments removed, due to their place in the history of Virginias effort to protect white supremacy, are continuously stymied and given little to no support by state or local government entities. State and local Republicans oppose these efforts outright. State and local Democrats withhold public support for these efforts, and don't openly condemn them either. "Standing for nothing" essentially.
UVA graduate, Richard Spencer becomes one of the most prominent white supremacists in the country, in part based on the status conveyed to him by being a UVA graduate. Spencer becomes central to popularizing white supremacist ideology in a way not seen since the 1960s.
Jason Kessler, another UVA graduate, resident of Charlottesville and avowed white supremacist, partners with Richard Spencer in organizing Unite The Right. Publicly presented in defense of the Robert E. Lee monument, one of the few in Virginia activists and Charlottesville local government have come to agree should be removed from public property. It is publicized and marketed by every major or growing white supremacist group in the country.
Despite months of warnings, ample intelligence presented by anti-racist activists, state government, Charlottesville city government, a national rise in hate crimes and hate group organizing, ample evidence publicly available online, the reality that Unite The Right will be the largest gathering of white supremacist hate groups in decades is ignored.
The night prior to Unite The Right, hate groups attack UVA students and staff, as well as anti-racist activists and organizers, some of whom participate in defending a church where groups of clergy and non-violent activists have gathered in preparation for Unite The Right.
Charlottesville police and VA State Police are given a stand down order for Unite The Right. Its a day of violence that shocks the nation. Heather Heyer is murdered by one of the participants, a member of one of the white supremacist groups with close ties to Richard Spencer. Later it's revealed by a Pro Publica investigation this group is attempting to both recruit from the military and is advocating its members join the military in order to gain combat training.
Virginia Governor, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who on the day prior to Unite The Right, called for Virginians to stay home, instead of calling on Virginians to support the people of Charlottesville in a show of unity against white supremacy, holds a vigil the following day. He invites none of the anti-racist organizers and groups that were in attendance to help support the city of Charlottesville or its residents. In the days and weeks following Unite The Right, McAuliffe's narrative in response to questions about just how his administration was so unprepared for Unite The Right becomes extremely muddled. He offers a number of conflicting stories. VA State police do the same. The narratives offered by the governor and a number of state government agencies conflict or contradict each other along the way.
Prior to Unite The Right, but as it was being publicized and organized, Corey Stewart is running for the Republican nomination for governor and appears in support of Jason Kessler as Kessler is organizing very publicly with white supremacist organizations, including Richard Spencer. Corey Stewart does lose a very close primary to Ed Gillespie, who himself loses the governors race, in part due to extremely racist ads run in the last month of his campaign.
Corey Stewart, having lost the primary for the Republican nomination as governor, wins the nomination to run as the Republican candidate for US Senate, a year after he was publicly supporting Jason Kessler, where a Virginia resident was murdered by a white supremacist brought here by a group Jason Kessler expressly invited.
Now, two of Virginias top Democrats are embroiled in scandal due to participating in deeply racist behavior. One of Virginias top Republicans is proven to have been involved in producing a deeply racist document.
These are just the most public and most easily identified instances of where white supremacies influence on Virginia politics and policy can be seen most recently and/or currently.
Blanket forgiveness for individual wrongs and willfully ignoring the collective harm of this history and present is what brings us to the dilemma was face today. The history that leads us to this present makes clear that forgiveness for individual wrongs isn't enough, and that being "not racist" isn't enough. There is a path to redemption, should Virginias leadership wish to actually achieve it. The path to redemption is truth, reconciliation and reparations for the harm caused by Virginias failure to address its history.
Virginias white population has been quick to offer or ask for forgiveness, repeatedly, and just as quick to grant it to Virginias leadership. It's quick and easy when there has been no cost for the harms that have been done, for the wrong which hasn't been righted and for the conditions that harm still contributes to. This is where we have gotten by having the power of Virginia government split between the plainly racist and the "not racist." It should be clear now, by the position Virginia government finds itself that this isn't a state of affairs that is acceptable. This is the truth Virginia has to face, especially white Virginia.
There is no argument that can be made, no reason or rationale that can be laid out to convince the plainly racist to just be not racist. Those reasons, arguments and rationale have been publicly debated at great length for at least two hundred years. The compromise between the plainly racist and the "not racist" goes back to creating the "three-fifths compromise." It follows through to abandoning the project of Reconstruction to preserve an order and the veneer of unity that's currently shredding itself to pieces at the local and national level. Virginia government and Virginia residents need one of our governmental institutions to stand on an anti-racist platform, and hold firm to it. Our place in the history of cementing white supremacy in the United States requires we accept the responsibility of undoing it. That is redemption.
Redemption means putting forth the effort and resources to address the harms caused, and the only way to do that in Virginia, given its history, is through reparations. Redemption will provide the reconciliation Virginia needs. If Governor Northam and Attorney General Herring want redemption, this is the way to find it. If the Virginia Democratic Party wants the support of Virginians who are ready to move beyond the legacy of white supremacy, this is how to get it. The same can be said of Virginias Republican Party, though its recent history suggests that it is Virginias Republican Party which seeks to profit most directly from the continuance of this state of affairs. Things change though, and as its within the Democratic Party's ability to take up the cause of anti-racism and reparations to make amends for its past and its participation in creating this state of affairs, it is within the Republican Party's ability. The Democratic Party should note, their future could be vastly threatened should the Republican Party take up this cause, whether out of genuine belief in the common good or shrewd desire to change the grounds of political alignment.
Should neither decide to take up the cause of redemption, of a genuine effort to make right the harms that have been caused to what degree it is possible and to present a policy of reparations, it guarantees one of two possibilities will be in Virginias political future.
Some other organization or party may emerge that will make this a foundational part of their party platform, and it will threaten the entire balance of political power in Virginia. Should that not happen, and we can all guarantee both parties will do their best to prevent that from happening out of their own self interest, the continued effort of white supremacy to assert itself as the primary political motivation in Virginias will mean a march backwards to the Commonwealth tearing itself apart. Should that happen, Richmond, and probably some of Virginias other cities and towns, will burn. This is not a threat or a call to action. It's a recognition of what happens when white supremacy attempts to reach out and suppress a recognition of the injustice it creates. Our history burns with examples.
Here we stand, with a few options in a moment of opportunity. Virginia and it's political institutions can continue attempting to paper over history with platitudes, pious proclamations and unearned forgiveness or Virginia can take hold of its responsibility and seek genuine redemption as an example to itself and the nation as a whole.
What redemption is going to look like, what that policy of reparations will look like, should be the result of direction from Virginia's Black communities. The most glaring examples are public schools, criminal justice reforms, direct actions to address economic inequalities resulting from this 400 year program of white supremacy. Those enforcement and roll out of those policies should have direct oversight by the Black community and/or their chosen representatives as well. Virginia has a wealth of brilliant academics, scholars, activists and community leaders to draw on.
It's past time to do the right thing, and this is how redemption is gained. If Virginia isn't ready to make reparation for the harm it has caused, it is openly stating it would rather be the cause of further harm than act with humility and integrity, and it will earn the just rewards of either decision.