Letter: Leave memorials alone

Monuments were placed when people thought something was worthy of being remembered.

While reading “Hearing on Jefferson Davis memorials set,” (Sept. 7, The Columbian), I wondered why we try to rewrite history and remove facts.

Fact: U.S. has a history of holding Africans in bondage (slavery).

Fact: Our founding fathers feared that addressing the slavery matter would divide the county.

Fact: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal” did not include Africans and African-Americans.

Fact: The U.S. went into the Civil War to determine answers to the morality, economics and legality of slavery.

Fact: More than 600,000 died during that war; both sides suffered and both produced heroes.

Fact: Each side fought for what they believed to be right. One side lost, the other won. That didn’t diminish the need for each side’s hero.

Fact: You can’t rewrite history because you can’t change what happened. Debate the morality of it, debate the legality of it, debate its economic advantages and disadvantages, but you can’t change history. You can read about it, and try to understand it.

Leave the memorials where they are and cherish the fact that you live in a great nation with a rich and diverse history.