Writing this post on George Allen at Greg's place, I came across the Virginia NAACP's reaction to Allen's "Confederate History Month" celebration in 1997:
Gov. George F. Allen on Wednesday proclaimed April as Confederate History and Heritage Month, and today black leaders demanded his resignation, saying he was trying to ''send us back to slavery.''
''We're not asking for an apology because only a person who had sensitivity would know that that was an improper thing to do in the first place,'' Linda Byrd-Harden, executive director of Virginia's N.A.A.C.P.
Hard to imagine a black organization getting away with a statement like this today. Which is funny, because this kind of overreaction is basically the unifying theme of right-wing radio and television at this point, except there's no actual underlying history to support it. If someone overreacted to a similar incident today by accusing a Republican of trying to "send us back to slavery," that would become the story. But if you listen to Glenn Beck today, you might assume that white folks are literally on the verge of enslavement, and it's no big deal because it's probably not even the craziest thing he's said in the last 10 minutes.
