My One Prejudice

I've often remarked to my friends that my one prejudice in life is against Virginia. It's not against the south generally--I used to vacation in South Carolina, I have close friends from North Carolina, and my grandparents live (or in one case, lived) in Florida. It isn't even really against all of Virginia--Northern Virginia is fine (NoVA is to the rest of Virginia as Austin is to the rest of Texas), as is UVA. But the state generally I am not a fan of, not just because it has a habit of doing remarkably stupid things, but because it is close enough to Maryland to know better.

Anyway, check out this story coming out of the VA House of Delegates:

There were furious denunciations in the General Assembly after a Virginia legislator stated that black people "should get over" slavery.

Hanover Delegate Frank Hargrove made the comment about slavery in an interview published Tuesday in The Daily Progress of Charlottesville.

In the same interview about whether the state should apologize to the descendants of slaves, Hargrove wondered aloud whether Jews should "apologize for killing Christ."

Alexandria Delegate David Englin, whose Jewish ancestors immigrated from Nazi-occupied Poland, criticized Hargrove's comments in the House of Delegates.

Hargrove then told Englin that his skin is a "little too thin." Other lawmakers gasped and groaned in disbelief.

Black lawmakers in the House denounced Hargrove's comments.

Delegate Dwight Jones, head of the Legislative Black Caucus, said that he is "absolutely appalled" that someone would tell him to "get over" slavery.

Maryland: Last bastion of intelligence before the wastelands of idiocy.