Editorial: Allow the plaques

Richmond Del. Jennifer L. McClellan’s House resolution should have been a cinch to pass, honoring as it does blacks who served in Virginia’s 1867-68 constitutional convention and as legislators for nearly 40 years during Reconstruction.

Theirs seems a history lesson that’s not only significant but also interesting.

The Virginia Capitol Foundation thought so. The organization found research on the men by former Del. Viola Baskerville so intriguing, in fact, that it was incorporated into a movie the foundation is making to share stories of Virginians who made a positive impact on society through civic service, according to our sister newspaper, the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

But the House Rules Committee recently stripped McClellan’s bill of language that called for the installation of plaques in the State Capitol that would list the lawmakers.

Del. Robert D. Orrock Sr. of Caroline County proposed the amendment eliminating the plaque language. He said he was worried about the precedent of allowing such memorials, even though the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commission was going to foot the bill.

The Republican said that “just because a group has a historical significance and is willing to pay for their own plaque” doesn’t mean the legislature has to approve it.

He’s right, of course. There can’t be a marker for every group.

However, these were not only men who served the commonwealth. Some of them were men who were considered property by that same commonwealth before they were allowed to carry out that service.

Seems like the House could make an exception in this case, especially considering that Virginia’s history of racial prejudice is so bad that the U.S. Justice Department still — in the 21^st century, mind you — has to approve the drawing of political boundaries in the state to ensure that minorities are properly represented.

McClellan’s fellow Democrat, Del. Delores L. McQuinn, also made a salient point about the choices involved with honoring history in the Old Dominion: “We spend lots of time talking about the Civil War and the Confederacy, and yet, when we have the opportunity, we are not acknowledging the contributions of citizens of the commonwealth.”

All may not be lost in this mission, though. In the state Senate, Richmond’s Sen. Henry L. Marsh III introduced a companion bill, which passed with no problems.

McClellan said she’s going to resubmit her resolution to conform to her Democratic colleague’s version.

“I hope we can work it out,” Marsh said.

So should anyone who’s interested in a more complete picture of the past.