Washington should be denounced, too, as a slave owner

Editor: Just watched CNN with regards to the debate about Robert E. Lee and George Washington being owners of slaves.

Anderson Cooper said that Robert E. Lee was trying to tear the United States apart while George Washington was fighting to keep the U.S. as one united country.

Cooper was in fact saying that it was OK to have slaves if you were for the North but not OK if you were for the South.

In my mind, it was not OK to have slaves period.

How can any human being believe that they can own a person, control a person and family and say it is OK?

I have seen on CNN more than once where they supported George Washington as a slave owner but denounced Robert E. Lee. Both should be denounced and history should record that both were at the bottom on the barrel.

One lady who was very wise in history pointed out that anyone who had slaves was no better than the other. She also pointed out that George Washington spent a year tracking down a female slave who had escaped. This pundit was black and very eloquent in the way she provided the history of slavery.

Shame on CNN and the press for supporting anyone who had slaves. The reason I say press is that no press, American or Canadian has denounced George Washington and I believe other major politicians of that era that had slaves.

Shame.

Bob Otway, Penticton