On 18 August, I sent an email letter to the editor of the Dallas Morning News. As far as I know, they have not published it, so I am publishing it here for you to read. I’ve added to it a little, because the DMN only allows 200 words via email.
The main reason the confederate monuments in Dallas TX and around the country need to be removed from publicly supported venues and that schools named for confederate “heroes” need their names changed is that the people they glorify were traitors to the United States.
The confederacy was an effort to rip apart the United States. It constituted a rebellion that resulted in a civil war that cost the lives of over 620,000 soldier and civilians. The major reason the 11 states that comprised the confederacy seceded from the United States was to maintain the institution of slavery. As disturbing as those facts are, two other facts trump them: The confederates were traitors to the Union, and they lost the war. These facts do not qualify them for laurels from the nation or U.S. cities and states.
Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings wants to study the issues of removing confederate statues from public venues and renaming schools for three months. What, exactly, is there to study? No nation erects monuments to those it has defeated. Monuments and schools should be named for those we honor and respect, and there are plenty of people who have made a positive impact on Dallas who did not fight against the United States who meet those criteria.
Speaking freely 