E-Z Guide To History And Holidays

You have to hand it to Virginia state assembly delegate Frank Hargrove for having an interesting cure to foot-in-mouth disease:

Frank Hargrove still doesn't want the General Assembly to apologize for slavery, but he's come up with a way the body can express its abhorrence of the practice.

The Hanover County Republican said Monday he will introduce a resolution in which Virginia would join several states that celebrate every June 19 as the end of slavery.

On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and slaves were free.

Hargrove gained national attention last week by saying the legislators should not apologize for slavery or anything else that happened before they were born. Hargrove said blacks should "get over" slavery.

Hargrove said he has received more than a thousand calls, letters and e-mails about his comments and got the idea for the celebration from a person in Mississippi.

As Presidents Day draws near, when we are forced to "honor" such nefarious presidents as Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant, the idea of a Juneteenth holiday really doesn't appear all that bad ... at least there's something there to celebrate.

My resolution to the matter, though, is a bit different:

First, since we've determined that Lincoln and Washington do not merit separate honor, we do away with Columbus, King, Chavez and anyone else who comes along and efficiently and facelessly celebrate all great and not so great history book types with Famous People Day. Let's just recognize that we're turning our back on history and get on with it.

Then, instead of Juneteenth or any other holiday marking the beginning, end or existence of some human nightmare or other, we declare a new holiday, Get Over It Day, in which we celebrate how far we've come and how much opportunity we provide anyone who wants to wants to achieve great things in this great nation.

There, that'll tidy up the calendars and the national psyche a bit, eh? History? Bah! Who needs it?

Related Tags: History, American history, Slavery, Juneteenth, Presidents Day