In a civil war, accountability must precede healing

In a civil war, accountability must precede healing

Before reconciliation, we must be clear about who we want to be as a nation 

Read the full article in The Washington Post

Long before the Trump presidency spiraled completely out of control, many Americans comforted themselves by asserting we were not in a civil war. As we sift through the debris left by the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on January 6—and anticipate what is likely to come—we ignore at our peril the cautionary tale of the last Civil War and what followed it.

Today’s reunification efforts, led by Republicans who call for healing just days after the riot, mask challenges much as similar calls did in 1865. Then, as now, we were a country divided by different values, including a contingent willing to use violence and anti-democratic means to accomplish its goals. Healing isn’t possible until those challenges are placed squarely on the table and addressed. Nor is it possible when those who seek to thwart the Constitution aren’t held accountable.

History reminds us that avoiding this difficult work only pushes division and violence into the future.

Read the full article in The Washington Post

Melody Barnes headshot

Melody Barnes

Melody Barnes is co-director for policy and public affairs for the Democracy Initiative, an interdisciplinary teaching, research, and engagement effort led by the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia. She is also a professor of practice at the Miller Center and distinguished fellow at the UVA School of Law. During the administration of President Barack Obama, Barnes was assistant to the president and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She was also executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress and chief counsel to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Caroline Janney

Caroline E. Janney

Caroline E. Janney is the John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia. A graduate of the University of Virginia’s doctoral program, Janney most recently taught at Purdue University. She is the author of two outstanding works in the field of Civil War studies, Burying the Dead but Not the Past: Ladies’ Memorial Associations and the Lost Cause (2008) and Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation (2013), both published by the University of North Carolina Press. She also has edited two volumes of essays, published numerous scholarly articles, and is completing a study of the demobilization of the Army of Northern Virginia.