‘By love, you conquer the world’

Re: “Victoria council votes 7-1 to remove Macdonald statue, concerns raised,” Aug. 10.

Reading Friday’s front page, I was struck dumb by Mayor Lisa Helps’ justification for removing the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald from city hall: “It is about rewriting history, but it is not about erasing history.”

First, these two actions are not mutually exclusive. In order to rewrite history, one would first have to erase the current version.

Second, Helps demonstrates naïvety in even suggesting such a notion. No one has the power to rewrite history. No authoritative political speech, no heartfelt apology, no generous monetary compensation and certainly no relocation of any statue, can undo atrocities committed against the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.

So instead of futilely attempting to compensate for the past, let us look to the future with Holocaust survivor Philip Riteman (whose obituary also appeared in Friday’s paper) as an inspiration. Let the leaders of every culture embrace and become involved in public education, as Riteman did, so that no community will ever again have to suffer because if its beliefs.

Let our law enforcers effectively combat discrimination. And let us all spread Riteman’s message that: “By love, you conquer the world. By hate, you’ll only destroy the world and you destroy yourself.”

Kate Soles Victoria