It is time to call the truth to that which is argued as “Southern history.”

The true history of the South includes — and I use the word “history” advisedly — 400 years of slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow, lynching and rape, an economic history of systemic and government sanctioned suppression of basic constitutional rights and the crushing of the very hope of millions of its citizens.

The true image of the American South is defined with this perception.

Within those 400 years of history is a mere four years of the Confederacy — 1861 to 1865. Less than 1 percent.

To argue that these 400 years are defined by four years is akin to claiming that a person’s life story and history is reflected in one’s prom night or one act of charity. Try that argument when petitioning Saint Peter for admission through the Pearly Gates.

Those four years were a very small part, a miniscule blip, of the story of the South.

The South drinks from wells dug by others, while ignoring those who dug those wells and dug for free.

The South rests in the cool shade of trees planted by others.

To this very day, Southerners continue to enjoy generational wealth, housing, education and positive indoctrination due to gains denied to minorities and a belief that each white individual excels in innovation, drive and worth. No American would want to change places or lives with the average African-American.

Most of today’s Southerners were born on third base and swear they hit a triple.

DAVID P. BAUGH

Richmond