Exposing the holocaust

Congratulations to Scottie B. and Anson Parker. Their street theater at the Jefferson Thanksgiving Festival ["$250 furor: Slave auction stirs passions," December 2, 2004] provided some confrontation to the continuously specious celebration of Thomas Jefferson's legacy.

We must treat history as a whole– and recognize holocaust where it exists. Given that slavery was a holocaust, what's the virtue in celebrating a reluctant tyrant?

While Mark Beliles can claim the support of the NACCP, there's a historical location in that fact as well. For centuries, power in Charlottesville has preferred to deal with sympathetic Black leaders rather than the African-American community itself, which is far too radical and unorthodox for liberal comfort.

This is a form of "mascotry" that's closer to the "blackface" Rick Turner decries than the actions of Scottie B. and Parker. Props to them for interrupting the creation of history– and forcing Charlottesville to discuss the uglier aspects of its heritage in an honest way.

Andrew J. Holden
Ontario, Canada

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