Last week I wrote about Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s naming of Ann Hunter McLean of Richmond to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources. McLean went on the radio soon after her appointment to extol the Confederacy and to call critics of Confederate statues “Cultural Marxist.” Today, word came that she has resigned from the board.
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 praised those who erected Confederate statues as people who wanted “to tell the true story of the American South to people 500 years from now.” As I reported, Youngkin seemed to be trying to distance himself from McLean by the end of last week. When Younkin was 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…” Apparently that “disagreement” led to her departure.
A spokesperson for Youngkin told reporters today that “After discussion about our Administration’s goals and priorities and Dr. McLean’s, Dr. McLean resigned.”
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