Governor Ralph Northam has initiated an effort to find and expunge Jim Crow-related laws. He has established a commission to oversee the project and assigned one of his executive staff to head up the task. At first blush, I thought this was a good idea, but I have had second thoughts. This smacks of erasing history. As long as the statutes are not enforceable, why not leave them on the books as reminders to current and future generations of the wrongs inflicted by the Commonwealth on some of its citizens? On the other hand, the older Code books in the archives will show these statutes, so they will not really be lost to history and there is something to be said for cleaning up the Code of all obsolete provisions.
