The Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, is currently under fire from some by renewing a tradition ignored by his Democrat predecessors by declaring April as Confederate History Month. Ah, perhaps someone will take a droll jab with a T.S. Eliot reference to April being the cruelest month .

My take is on this is what’s the Governor’s approach to recognizing Confederate history? It is a celebration or a sober reflection? If one thinks about it, the month could be coöpted by those with a less celebratory take on that era.

It was about a year ago, I was working on a project and in the background, this “odd” documentary came on IFC. Odd, in that I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It happened to be the 2004 “mocumentary”, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America. It was a tongue-in-cheek early 2000s look at what if the South won the Civil War, told from an outside British perspective. The idea is that the film was so controversial, it was banned. Now {in 2004}, the ban was lifted and can be shown on network television, with more Confederacy satire. Not surprisingly, the Weinstein Company had a hand in this Kevin Wilmott film {part 1 of 9}::

Parts 2-9 are on YouTube and the DVD is available at Amazon.

Not to get all postmodern, but this is an example of how the metanarrative is dead. While there may be power in the term of “Confederacy” and its iconography, ultimately that meaning is up for grabs and can be contested and subverted. Although, it also matters in how symbols are used, e.g., to intimidate or alienate, which is a whole different Oprah.

Twitterversion:: VA Governor declares Apr. as Confederate History Month—controversy ensues.Is this a matter of perspective? #ThickCulture @Prof_K

Song:: Luda-‘Welcome to Atlanta’ {I still think Jermaine Dupri sounds like a bit like Urkel}