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Here is the entire article.....................Looks like people are starting to believe this war had more to so about slavery than money. History revisionism at its finest.

Here we go again.

It's almost comical.

The latest is "Dixie Days."

We're sending our school children to "Dixie Days"!

Not to a Civil War event, mind you. But to a Civil War event titled . . . "Dixie Days"!

About 400 students from Hanover and Chesterfield counties were to attend yesterday's opening of "Dixie Days" at Pole Green Park in Hanover.

Oh, and there's more: "Dixie Days" was being put on by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Yes, those Sons of Confederate Veterans. Specifically, their Cold Harbor Guard Camp.

We do this over and over and over. It's not hard to figure why outsiders refer to us as: "Richmond, the Capital of the Confederacy . . . "

That's code, of course, for: "Richmond, still racist and stupid 140 years after the Civil War ended . . . "

It needn't be that way.

The Civil War is one of the two most important events in our history. (The American Revolution was noteworthy, too, you might say.) The Civil War should be taught honestly and accurately.

Without romanticism.

"Dixie" is the word for the idealized South, of beautiful plantations and happy Negro slaves, or "Gone With the Wind," of halcyon days, of "the land of cotton; old times there are not forgotten."

Sort of glosses over that whole slavery thing.

Argue all you want that the Civil War was about other things. But one side was fighting to preserve a society allowing slavery. The other, against it.

To a whole lot of people, including the descendants of slaves, Confederates were the bad guys.

School officials did help planners of the three-day "Dixie Days" present the war fully. And the presenters' Web site shows they have taken their responsibility seriously. Students can surely learn.

But apparently parents received letters saying only that this would be a Civil War event, according to yesterday's Times-Dispatch. There was no mention of "Dixie Days."

At least one parent complained when she found out.

"I am appalled that the school is sponsoring this trip," the parent said in removing her child. "This is something that brings up a lot of negative thoughts."

So here's my proposal: Do "Dixie Days."

But do "Yankee Days," too.

Deal?

Ray's column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. To respond, you can call him at (804) 649-6333; fax (804) 775-8059; or e-mail rmcallister@timesdispatch.com.