The tragic events that unfolded last week in Charlottesville, Virginia, are being followed up this week in other places. I join others in condemning the violence that took the lives of several people with many others injured. But we are seemingly unaware of the twists and turns this confrontation last week is now taking this week, and perhaps may take in the future.
In Durham, North Carolina, a statue of Robert E. Lee was taken down on Aug. 15, and other statues of Lee and Confederate soldiers and leaders could similarly follow. But destroying statues of our national and state leaders in the past cannot erase U.S. history. Rather, we should deal accurately with our history by perhaps putting explanations up near statues explaining our U.S. civil rights struggles and the passage of U.S. constitutional amendments such as the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments involving elimination of slavery, as well as the 19th Amendment assuring women of the right to vote beginning in 1920.
Let us not try to rewrite history. We can honor George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Dr. Martin Luther King. We can come together to do this while acknowledging past flaws. And we will see the time shortly when we will have a talented and qualified female as our first U.S. president.
Robert P. Goss
American Fork