Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

It’s Official: Patrick Henry Has Been Canceled

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by

James A. Bacon
in ,

by James A. Bacon

Under intense pressure from the Virginia State Board of Community Colleges, the board of the Patrick Henry Community College, named after the founding father, has changed its name to Patrick & Henry Community College. The new name reflects the college’s commitment to Patrick County and Henry County, two of the localities in its service territory… which happened to be named after Patrick Henry.

The issue: Although Henry was renowned as an orator who helped spark the American Revolution, served as Virginia’s first post-colonial governor, and championed individual liberties, he owned slaves.

The Northam administration policy has led to the renaming of other community colleges named after prominent early Virginians whose ownership of slaves or views toward race transgressed the new morality — Lord Fairfax Community College, John Tyler Community College, Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, and Thomas Nelson Community College.

Henry was the only one of the lot who was nationally known and revered.

The renaming diktat was a top-down affair driven by the Woke elite in Richmond. Board members of the local community college resisted the change. The Martinsville Bulletin quotes Brian Henderson, the college’s athletic director and assistant vice president, who is Black, as saying that he works for Patrick Henry the community college, not Patrick Henry the slaveholder. The name does not bother him. “I’m not working as Patrick Henry’s slave.”

Not all Blacks share the political class’s fixation with purging the nation’s public statues, memorials and names of anything tainted by slave-holding or racism, regardless of whatever contribution the offending individuals might have made to their communities or to advance the cause of individual rights.

It doesn’t matter. This is all about the new ruling class imposing its vision, its value and its will upon all of Virginia.

Now that the precedent has been set with Patrick Henry, is there a principle of logic says, “We’ll stop here, and we’ll go no farther? We will not purge the memories of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson or George Mason?”

If there is such a limiting principle, I haven’t seen it.

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50 responses to “It’s Official: Patrick Henry Has Been Canceled”

  1. dick dyas Avatar
    dick dyas

    Insulting

  2. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Now don’t take this question the wrong way but is it possible that today there might well be young blacks in that area who might want to enroll in a Community College that was actually named after the guy that owned their ancestors as slaves?

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Right. That’s how they pick a school….I repeat, you (like most liberals) are the patronizing racist, if you have that low an opinion of how people make decisions.

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        The soft bigotry of low expectations.

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I’m not a racist at all and certainly not like you are and I’d never say that except in response to your hatred. I recognize our history, the reality of Jim Crow and I believe what blacks think is important to the issue. We should not send descendants of slaves to school named for the slave-holding masters of their ancestors. Who would support that?

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          So, you’re saying you do have that low an opinion of how people make decisions?

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Yeah, but all people equally.
            https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gUlfWmdCW-k

          2. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            A buddy of mine supplied the old Saab 99 that was used in that movie.

          3. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            A friend’s son is working with a movie studio. He just got an assignment for a new movie set in the 60s. “Go to South Carolina and find a couple of hundred 60s automobiles in like new condition and get contracts for use signed.”

          4. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Nope. You are the one saying that, not me. It’s apparently your view not mine and you and Haner both might well be projecting.

            But to be clear, how about you explain what decisions and what people you are talking about?

        2. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          “We should not send descendants of slaves to school named for the slave-holding masters of their ancestors. Who would support that?”

          Apparently, the athletic director/assistant vice president of Patrick Henry Community College supports it.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Oh I know folks do but should we do this or at least can we understand and acknowledge how this feels to some folks?

          2. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            Larry, I do understand and acknowledge how some people feel about this. But why am I (and others like me) ALWAYS the ones who are expected to accommodate the people who claim to speak for people whose ancestors may (or may not) have been wronged by one or more of my ancestors?

            There is literally NO WAY anyone alive today could possibly claim to have been harmed by Patrick Henry in any way.

            As far as I am concerned, continued insistence by certain white people that blacks cannot deal with the horrible things that happened to some of their ancestors without being molly-coddled and hand-held is another example of the soft bigotry of low expectations.

            I am certain that as a group, black people are no more or less psychologically weak than white people. And no matter what, I’m almost certain they don’t need the kind of help offered by a bunch of rich, liberal, white-guilt-feeling fools virtue signaling by changing the names of colleges, allegedly on their behalf.

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            You don’t think there are descendants of blacks that Patrick Henry owned?

            Do you think the slaves that he owned did not have the same opportunity to own land and generate wealth that they could pass down to their kids like Henry did?

            Do you have a view what Henry meant when he said “Give me Liberty….. ” in terms of what that meant to the people he owned as slaves – and their descendants?

            Would you presume to know that no black folks have those thoughts themselves?

        3. Bob X from Texas Avatar
          Bob X from Texas

          I agree.
          Harvard and Yale should be shut down.

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      Didn’t you once say you would not support canceling the founders of this country?

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        No, although I can see how you might think that.

        I’ve maintained all along that statues , road names, school names, etc are not the same as “history” which will never be “cancelled”.

        I’ve also said it’s important to listen to what black folks think in making these decisions.

        I was brought up and taught that these were “heroes” but I was not taught about Jim Crow and the related movements to designate those who supported slavery as “heroes” and placed in public spaces, light courthouses, schools and even Congress – no matter how it affected black folks.

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          Patrick Henry had nothing to do with Jim Crow.

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Did he once say, “Give me feathers, or hand me that vibrator?”

      2. Matt Adams Avatar
        Matt Adams

        He “evolved” his stance on the talking point, based upon poll tested answers.

    3. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Actually, that happens quite often. Hell, Georgetown owned some 270 slaves and the Jesuits sold them to owners in Louisiana, when they started having better thoughts about the issue. Block sale I think.

      They recently renamed a Hall after one of their former slaves.

      For the Jesuits, slavery was a step up. Sort of. Except, they were still in the Inquisition business until well into the 1800s. They country-fried some poor schmuck at the stake in 1830, 1850.

  3. Matt Adams Avatar
    Matt Adams

    Presentism strikes again!

    Are we going to cancel all books written by individuals who owned slaves as well?

    “What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
    how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
    express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
    in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
    world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
    what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
    me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
    you seem to say so.”

  4. sbostian Avatar
    sbostian

    Rather than make an assertion of the Maoist, Bolshevik, or Robespierrian nature of the left’s cultural campaign, I ask the left leaning participants here to explain to us rubes how the left’s actions in the US differ from the the Maoist Cultural Revolution – especially the assault on the “Four Olds” to destroy the attachment to and memory of history in China. Also, I would like to be informed by the by our left leaning colleagues regarding movements from the left which either did not attempt to destroy the prior order or which succeeded in establishing their promised utopias.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Yeah, Mao and all that culture stuff… did he suppress the vote too?

    2. emjak Avatar
      emjak

      The problem is that many on the left are pursuing what they believe will be a utopian society based on a combination of (1) a form of historicism, (2) the elevation of emotion over rationality, (3) the use of a solipsistic view of reality (that must be politically correct), (4) insistence on their good intentions, and (5) an arrogant elitism that deems themselves as the sole enlightened vanguards able to lead the rest of us (willing or unwilling) to their vision of utopia.

      An interesting book on the dismal history of failures by socialists is Joshua Muravchek, Heaven on Earth: The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of Socialism (Encounter Books, 2019). The persistence of faith in socialism after the collapse of the Soviet Union is discussed in Jean-Francois Revel, Last Exit to Utopia: The Survival of Socialism in a Post-Soviet Era (Encounter Books, 2000). And there are multiple books on the failures of the Russian Bolsheviks the Chinese Communists to deliver the utopian results they proclaimed would follow from their taking power.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        Utopia? Nope. How about more of the ideals the Founding Fathers espoused in their lofty words?

  5. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    What did Dabney S. Lancaster do to deserve cancellation?

    1. Matt Adams Avatar
      Matt Adams

      “The reason his name has come up in discussions about renaming the school is because of his role during the period after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Lancaster was a segregationist. He was once quoted as saying, “We’ll fight it from the housetops, from the street corners, in every possible way. We are going to maintain our way of life.”

      Lancaster’s position at the time was for localities to have the local option to desegregate — even if meant there would be some integration of schools — rather than the state control.”

      https://roanoke.com/news/local/education/state-board-urges-dabney-s-lancaster-community-college-and-others-to-change-names/article_ff8c8a26-ba6b-11eb-926d-ebde38994550.html

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Ouch. Okay, rename the school that’s named after him and leave the rest alone.

  6. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    The real question is when do I have to change my name? I am not a Kendi ally and appear to be a square peg in a round hole

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Blackhead? Or,… The Scarlet Pimple?

      1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        At least I have the guts to stand by name. What about you? You going to hide forever?

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          You go for it. This isn’t the same as a public square. There are a lot of bat$#!t crazies out there. It’s like outer space and extraterrestrial life. If you could imagine just half of what could be out there, you’d turn off all transmitters and the lights at night.

          It’s protection from the casual nutsacks, whose name I shan’t mention.

  7. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    If the people of a city, say Richmond, want to remove certain statues they own, I’m okay with local control. If a large cohort of my fellow Americans find dead white Confederate generals or Secesh politicos offensive, that may be true and deserves consideration. But this wholesale attack on the Founding Fathers, pretty much any Virginian who lived before the late 19th Century and plenty who lived after, is just despicable. There is no justification for being ashamed of or telling others they need to be ashamed of Patrick Henry. With this, the agenda is clear. They do this, and then with a straight face tell us they are not using the schools to push a radical agenda. Yes they are.

    This takes me back to France looking at defaced churches where depictions of Jesus or other Biblical figures were decapitated and left in place.

    1. emjak Avatar
      emjak

      It’s just another example of the Left’s bait and switch politicking. It was never just about Confederate statues.

  8. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Cleveland Guardians?

  9. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Edsel Ford was a great guy! Let’s name a car after him.

  10. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    I think the new name should be Patrick Star Community College. It would commemorate the level of intellect of those who took the decision to change the name.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6fdfeaa91c1d3b81dfba1d67e42094ac719b1324a579b988ba983235cb054879.png

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Nah, as best I could ever discern, he’s chronically unemployed. Probably not a good choice to replace a dead guy.

  11. kls Avatar
    kls

    WHAT’s NEXT — razing all mosques because of Islam’s penchant for slavery and anti-women’s and anti-LGBTQ rights?

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      I don’t think they name mosques after people. It’s that whole vanity being an insult to Allah thing.

  12. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    We should not get too excited here. Patrick Henry is not being canceled. He will still be in the history books. His famous speech will still be reenacted at St. John’s Church in Richmond every Sunday during the summer. And, as far as the community college is concerned, the folks there are pretty clever–wanting to change the name to Patrick & Henry Community College. Everyone will still refer to it as Patrick Henry.

    By the way, Jefferson and Madison would have been happy to have had Patrick Henry “canceled”. He was a thorn in their sides for many years.

    That being said, I agree with a lot that has been said. There needs to be a limit on renaming. Leading figures in the Confederacy should not be honored with building names or statutes, nor should the Confederate cause be honored. It must not be forgotten, but should be remembered for being a black spot on our history, and not remembered with reverence and longing.

    On the other hand, we honor the founding fathers for their positive contributions to the history of our nation, the exact opposite of the reason Confederate leaders have been honored in the past.

    At the same time, we should not minimize, or whitewash, the hypocrisy some of them exhibited by owning slaves. It would be easy to say, well, that was the norm in those days and, from our perch a couple of hundred years later, we should not judge too harshly. But, Jefferson and Madison, for example, both acknowledged the immorality and evil inherent in keeping other human beings in bondage. Edward Coles, Dolley Madison’s cousin and James Madison’s private secretary, who was a close associate of Madison for many years, came to see the evil in slavery and freed his slaves and frequently urged Madison to do the same. Even closer to home, Dolley Madison’s father, upon becoming a Quaker, freed his slaves. Many of the founders knew slavery was wrong, but continued the practice, primarily for their own financial benefit.

    It is truly a conundrum, how to honor these men, while at the same time acknowledging their great moral failing in this one area. But, we should not take the easy way out by refusing to honor them at all and celebrate their achievements.

    The same problem exists, to a lesser extent, with the more modern leaders who embraced segregation. Of course, it was appropriate to take down Harry Byrd’s statute. But, what of some of the foot soldiers in Byrd’s machine (to mix metaphors), such as Mills Godwin? Ironically, at least one community college has taken the name of Godwin off a building. Perhaps they forgot, or did not know, that the establishment of the community college system was one of the major achievements of Godwin’s first term as governor.

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      “Patrick Henry is not being canceled. He will still be in the history books.”

      For how long? The camel’s nose is in the tent.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        BS guy.

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          FU, guy.

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      What about Emory and Henry College? The school is named for John Emory (bishop) and Patrick Henry. Name change right? Should Henry’s statue at capitol square be removed due to unpleasant character flaws? Are national heroes who supported abortion subject to the same rules of contextualization, cancellation, and condemnation?
      https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/richmond.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/cf/3cf26b80-d918-11e2-a920-0019bb30f31a/51c20969e8829.image.jpg

    3. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Plus they save stationary expenses…
      &
      ^

      Mills Godwin? I was on the beach that day less than a block away. It was a single bolt, literally out of the blue.

    4. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      I admit, I have some hesitation with Patrick Henry but I also point out the irony in his words:

      ” The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfil the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country.”

      The other thing that strikes me is that folks like Patrick Henry were landed gentry that they received or that they inherited from ancestors that received that land from the King – then they wanted to form a new country based on “equality” that really was not intended towards servants and slaves or the common man.

      My understanding is that the Founding Fathers actually were quite wary of general elections where everyone would vote.

      From that perspective – I can see where not everyone who is a descendant today might find those words as meaningful as others might.

      In spite of all of this, most also see this country as achieving these ideals better than many other countries, but it did not happen overnight and we’re still trying to work to make sure all have true equal opportunity to achieve a better life.

      1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
        Dick Hall-Sizemore

        Patrick Henry was not from the landed gentry. His father was a Scottish immigrant who did marry a widow of a prominent family from English ancestry. However, all the property passed on to Henry’s older half-brother and Henry had to make his own way in the world. At one time, he was a store clerk.

        Madison inherited a plantation, but it did not originate from a royal land grant. His grandfather and father had accumulated the land over time. The same could be said of Jefferson.

  13. Bob X from Texas Avatar
    Bob X from Texas

    Is their a group of people in the world that at some time in their history did not own slaves?

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