A distant relative of a slave recently visited the grave in Virgina of said relative and was surprised by what he found. Decaying and crumbling stones filled the landscape dedicated as a final resting place for the once enslaved people. The sight was appalling enough, but with a trip up the road to a white Confederate soldier cemetery it became even more heartbreaking. The white cemetery "was damn near immaculate—headstones standing tall, grass nicely mowed. One was set apart from the rest by a white picket fence and festooned with the Stars and Bars, not the Stars and Stripes. An inscription on a simple white cross memorialized the unknown Confederate soldier. This was not a joyous moment. I was enraged by what appeared to be the neglect of the African-American cemetery and preferential treatment accorded the white one," recalled Brian Palmer (the relative).
Mr. Palmer urges his readers to question how this reveals history's hidden priorities. We as a nation rarely want to confront our mistakes, we often push them aside and try to forget they ever happened. This is what is going on in the slave cemeteries of the South. Not wanting to acknowledge the horrors of our actions, we choose to let the people who had their rights stolen in life have their rights stolen in death as well.
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