More thoughts on racism, terrorism

Re Barbaric cultural practices, then and now,

Opinion June 28 Rick Salutin’s to-and-fro about ethnic identity is somewhat interesting.

Samuel Johnson in the 18th century said, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” He might have added religion to that.

Like so many, I am of mixed background, and the Second World War shook those atavistic microbes out of many of us forever, so we can at least be grateful for that. (I’d hate to think there was anything less to be learned from that spasm of primitivism.)

It’s really not that hard to teach oneself atheism and internationalism, since they should come naturally. You are not what you say or even what you think, but what you do.

So label me existentialist, if you have to. Nigel Spencer, Montreal

Re Race, gun culture a toxic mix, Letters June 27 The Confederate flag that everybody is talking about was the Confederate battle flag created by Tennessee as their state flag after they seceded from the Union in 1861. This flag is not the Stars and Bars.

The Stars and Bars flag was created by an Austrian immigrant in 1854 to be the official flag of the State of Georgia. After the Confederate States of America was created, it adopted this flag, not the Tennessee flag, as their national flag.

After the U.S. Civil War, Georgia kept this flag as its state flag and, till this day, the Stars and Bars flag is the official state flag of Georgia.

The Confederate battle flag is not the Stars and Bars. Robert Heath, Weston

Re Silent no more, June 27 In reference to the nine black worshippers recently killed in South Carolina, Tony Burman writes, “It was the worst hate crime in the United States in decades.” I would like to remind Mr. Burman that in November 2009, 12 people were killed and more than 30 injured by a radicalized Muslim shooter at Fort Hood, Texas.

Presumably the term “hate crime” only applies when the assailant is white? Edward Nix, Oshawa, Ont.