Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin threw down once again in the “History Wars” that seem to have captured the popular right-wing imagination since the killing of George Floyd. Several weeks ago he named Ann Hunter McLean of Richmond to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources. She used her newfound prominence to praise Robert E. Lee as “Christian soldier,” decry as “cultural Marxists” African Americans and others insisting on the removal of Confederate statues from public squares, and praising those who erected Confederate statues people who wanted “to tell the true story of the American South to people 500 years from now.” While this may have renewed Youngkin’s support among his party’s base, it has also drawn a lot of blowback and he seems now to be reconsidering his appointment of McLean.
This week Youngkin said he would not try to restore the Confederate statues already removed in Richmond back to public spaces in the city. He said “We won’t try to restore the ones that were moved by previous administrations. I do feel very strongly that those statues should be placed in museums or on a battlefield.” Youngkin also refused to commit to keeping three Confederate statues reaming on the grounds of the State Capitol where they are. One of the statues is a well-know depiction of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. When asked if he would remove those statues he said, “There’s a little bit of confusion about whose role it is to make these decisions and so that’s one of the things we’ll look into but I don’t have a current view yet.”
Younkin was also asked if he agreed with his appointee’s views on slavery and the Confederacy. He said, in very uncertain terms, “I disagree with her comments and she and I have discussed that and so we’re having a discussion about whether she can represent us well…”
It sounds like Ann Hunter McLean went a step too far in her praise for the Confederacy even for Glenn Youngkin, but only time will tell if he has the guts to remove her.
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