4 Reasons Why Virginia's Recent Statement of "Profound Regret" Isn't Enough

Virginias Racial Oppression Did Not End with The Abolition of Slavery Cont'd

The 1960s

In the 1960s, civil rights leaders were called before the legislature for questioning about their motives. A defense attorney says, "We spent state resources to attack civil rights leaders, white and black, so it's time we say we made mistakes as a state.”

The 1980s

Instead of honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. alone, the state implemented a Lee-Jackson King Day in a rebellious move which lasted between 1984 and 2001, and honored Dr. King as well as Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

The 2000s

In 2002, the House Republican leadership revived a custom of saluting the Virginia flag and paying tribute to the "Old Dominion." Before each session, they recited a pledge to the flag written by a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy that some blacks felt was a symbol of the state's segregated past. The practice was stopped two years later because Democrats refused to participate.