Virginia Sen. Dick Black says no Confederate soldiers died fighting for slavery [View all]

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Virginia Sen. Dick Black says no Confederate soldiers died fighting for slavery

Thursday, Sep. 14, 2017 by Trevor Baratko

State Sen. Dick Black (R-13th) says no Confederate soldiers died fighting for slavery, a comment described by a George Mason University scholar as “at the very least, a misleading overstatement.” ... The local lawmaker's statement, sent in an email to Republican colleagues, comes amid a national discussion about race, symbolism and the propriety of Confederate monuments in public places in modern-day America.

One such monument stands in the center of Leesburg, the largest town in Virginia {sic. The writer means Loudoun County. The paper will fix that.} and the seat of the fastest-growing county in the South. The statue is placed on county property next to the Loudoun County Courthouse. ... Black represents a portion of Leesburg and Loudoun County.

The senator, in an email obtained by the Times-Mirror, says he opposes efforts to “cede authority to localities” in terms of deciding the fate of monuments. “That's just code for tearing them down,” he says. ... “None of those soldiers fought to defend slavery,” Black wrote. “Soldiers don't serve for things like that -- trust me, I know. Imagine the men of Picket's Charge {sic. He means Pickett's Charge. Sheesh, do I have to do everything around here?} thinking, 'I'm virtually certain to die in this attack, but I take solace in defending slavery.' Give me a break.”

Loudoun County Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) has requested that localities be given greater authority over monuments on public property. State law dictates monuments to war veterans cannot be removed. ... Black continued, “Only now, with racist hate groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa, have Confederate memorials been viewed as political statements. Statue removal is solely an act of racial hatred and nothing else. Their objective is to tear our nation apart and destroy it. Do you sense the faintest patriotism in any of these clowns?”