A June 1 letter writer, who was upset with the removal of statues in New Orleans, had some of his facts wrong (“There is no erasing of the past”).
The statues are not being destroyed. They are being moved to other locations not yet announced. The proper place for them is at battlefields and museums. Museums that house such statues also should display replicas of slave-ship holds that brought captured Africans to the Americas; slave auction blocks, where men, women, and children were sold to the highest bidder; whips and whipping posts, where slaves were flogged; chains that bound them together, and replicas of slave housing on southern plantations.
No one is trying to erase the past, but public statues that honored white proponents of slavery are an affront to the majority-black population of New Orleans. Slavery was one of the greatest evils in our country’s history, and the people who tried to continue it should be noted, but not honored.
No one is trying to rewrite history, but it is important to understand the full context and meaning of history. The white southerners who fought to preserve slavery lost the war in 1865, and the victors in war get to call the shots.
That’s why you don’t see statues of King George III, Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Gen. Hideki Tojo in the United States.
ROBERT A. KELSO
Sylvania
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Looking forward to good old days
It is truly great that we soon again will be seeing the return of those magnificent coal-fired, steam-driven, smoke-belching locomotives.
CHARLES DIBERT
Elmore, Ohio
Iran, Pakistan not our friends
I just read the June 5 column by Dr. S. Amjad Hussain (“Trump Administration should be careful siding with Saudis”).
It suggested (in addition to referring to a lovely song about love by Sam Cook) that we should abandon our Middle East allies Saudi Arabia and Israel in favor of Iran and Pakistan, who are potentially better partners in the area of peace and compassion.
I wonder if Dr. Hussain is also hearing the song by Jerry Samuels, “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!”
CHARLES ZSARNAY
Maumee
First Published June 8, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
