Another Southern State, Another GOP Governor Building A Bridge To The Confederacy

There's another Republican governor who issued a proclamation celebrating Confederate History month and who conveniently forgot to mention slavery.

Why should it not surprise me it's Haley Barbour? His previous gig before he became governor of Mississippi was chair of the Republican Party.

It also doesn't surprise me since Mississippi was the second state to secede from the union in January 1861 and only ratified the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing slavery on March 16, 1995.

It even got a shout out in Dr. King's iconic 1963 'I Have A Dream ' speech.

'I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.'

By the way Confederacy defenders, before you come at me with bogus claims that 'The War To Perpetuate Slavery' wasn't about that, check out what the Mississippi Declaration Of Secession had to say about why the Magnolia State left the union.

"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery — the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product, which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization."

Barbour helped campaign for now Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell last year, and said Sunday on CNN that slavery was bad but a fuss over McDonnell's original proclamation "doesn't amount to diddly."

It does to the African American residents inside and outside your state and the state of Virginia. The one you issued in Mississippi matters to me since I have relatives who were born there and still live in the Magnolia State.

If it doesn't mean diddly Haley, why did your office refuse to respond to a Monday request by the Associated Press for a copy of your 2010 Confederate Heritage Month proclamation that was freely faxed by the chaplain in chief for the national Sons of Confederate Veterans, The Rev. Cecil Fayard?

The proclamation, signed March 15, said it is "important for all Americans to reflect upon our nation's past to gain insight from our mistakes and successes."

Too bad Gov. Barbour, that you, many people in your ethnic group, and your party not only fail and refuse to reflect and gain insight on past mistakes, you continually fail to learn from them.