In a move prompted by a persistent Virginia Beach teenager, the Virginia Senate this week advanced a bill to remove the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) from the list of nonprofit and charitable organizations exempt from real estate, deed recordation and personal property taxes in Virginia state code. 

Fantastic. As Lost Cause devotees and American traitor venerators, the UDC should never have been on that list to begin with. 

The Washington Post’s Greg Schneider reported that Virginia Beach high schooler Simone Nied, 17, started advocating for the UDC’s tax exemptions to be stripped two years ago. Her requests culminated in House of Delegates and Senate bills to do just that. The loss of the tax exemptions, as Schneider noted, could mean a yearly tax payment to the state of at least $50,000, if the measures are approved by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

In the 1890s when the UDC was founded, America was in the final throes of Reconstruction, the process of putting our fractured nation back together again after the Civil War. For a short time, it seemed the country would make good on its promises of life and liberty to millions of Black Americans who had been freed from slavery and were eager to enjoy the full benefits of citizenship. They bought land and started farms, educated themselves and even pursued political power. 

Then Jim Crow came, which rolled back most of that progress and all but stamped out the fledgling embers of advancement Black people had strived so hard to achieve. As Black Virginians entered the nadir of 20th century racial terror and socioeconomic disenfranchisement, the UDC was founded under the banner of honoring the Confederate soldiers who had fought for the right to continue enslaving those same Black Virginians’ parents, grandparents and ancestors. The daughters and descendents of Confederates in Virginia and elsewhere in the South were determined to restore the social dichotomies and disparities of the “good old days,” when African Americans had no civil or human rights and when white people wielded power in all aspects of society. It is no coincidence that most of Virginia’s Confederate monuments and memorial societies were created as the nation reenacted a legal system of segregation and discrimination designed to put Black folks back in their place and keep white folks on top. 

The UDC has continued to cling to this mission, often disguised with flowery phrases about honoring Southern sacrifice and bravery while never acknowledging the white supremacist ideals that intertwine that mindset. The hate such a stance represents cannot be separated from its heritage — I don’t care how many tepid anti-racism statements UDC adds to their largely-inaccessible-to-the-public website, or how much bunk they get unnamed advocates to spew in newspapers alleging their group “only does good in its community.”

It’s with all of this in mind that I commend Ms. Nied and Virginia’s senators and delegates for trying to stop public dollars from subsidizing an organization inextricably rooted on the wrong side of history. It’s a nice companion to other bills and resolutions focused on righting wrongs, improving lives and acknowledging — if not repairing — harms endured by Virginians of color for centuries. The Senate and House legislation on ending UDC’s tax breaks needs to be reconciled, and then the ball will be in Gov. Youngkin’s court.

An aside: I don’t know if our governor will accept the Assembly’s proposal, but it would be hard to imagine any modern-day presidential hopeful successfully ascending to the White House trailing the scent of moldy Confederate memorials. If the top job of leading an increasingly multicultural 21st century America is his ambition, he’d do well to sop up his disappointment with the removal of mementos commemorating the most divisive period of the nation’s history from public spaces, and he probably shouldn’t buck the proposed end of the UDC’s tax-free days either.

While we’re considering organizations that don’t deserve to skip out on paying taxes, I’d suggest some Virginia churches be next up for review. Specifically, the ones that discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, allow politics to infiltrate the pulpit and destroy family relationships. 

The point is not to persecute religious organizations, most of which I believe provide foundational support to many citizens’ spiritual and emotional wellbeing and strengthen communities in ways more valuable than mere money ever could. But just as legislators’ proposal to end the UDC’s tax-free days exemplifies, reexamining the activities of wayward churches would be another opportunity to seriously consider if we’re using our state’s fiscal resources the best and fairest way we can. Can I get an amen?