Michael Schrader states that the removal of the Charlottesville Lewis and Clark statue was due to racial hatred against Lewis and Clark’s achievement (“Preserve Lewis and Clark legacy” Our Readers’ Views, July 13). The truth is that Sacagawea’s descendants requested the removal of the statue due to how their ancestor is portrayed. In 2019, Dustina Abrahamson, the great-great niece of Sacagawea, stated in an interview with NPR that the statute made her great-great aunt appear cowardly: “It depicts our ancestor as if she was a dog going along on the trip.”
The removal is not racial hatred; rather it’s family protecting the reputation of an honorable ancestor.
