LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor:
This letter offers my opinion about the future status of the Monument to the Confederacy that stands on the Union County Courthouse Square. I’ve expressed this opinion to Judge Loftin and the Quorum Court and would urge others to make their opinions known as well.
Were I to approach the monument with no pre knowledge I would consider it handsome, well kept - better than most. I would see it topped with a poignant statue of a very young man headed off to war. It could be a monument to any young man, any war. But it isn’t. It is a monument to the CSA, the Confederate States of America. It is a monument to a short lived, failed government that existed and went to war primarily to support the ill fated attempt to maintain a slave owning economy.
I am of the South. I sound southern, I cook southern, I smile southern. I see things through the eyes of a seventy year old white female southerner because that is all I can do. What I can not do is see things through the eyes of an African American. I cannot feel the residual fear and angst and sometimes rage of an African
American confronted daily with reminders of a culture - indeed celebration of a culture - that wanted them kept as chattel. But what I can do is try to listen when they tell me how they feel. We white southerners haven’t done a very good job of listening. We’ve done a much better job of telling. We say get over it, it was a long time ago, it has nothing to do with us. Well, says who? Maybe we should listen when the African American members of our community tell us those symbols are hurtful. Maybe we should listen when they tell us how those symbols embolden the sick and violent among us who still profess the values of the Confederacy. Maybe we should listen when they tell us the monument needs to go. And then maybe we can begin to make some progress beyond lip service to the end of the prejudices and fears we all, white and black, harbor in the depths of our souls.
I’m trying to listen. What I hear, and what I believe, difficult as it will be for some, is that the monument needs to go.
Most sincerely. Clara Jones El Dorado
To the Editor:
Putin and the Russians soliciting the Taliban to kill our troops is alarming and should not be tolerated. It is bad enough that they, with Trump’s blessing stole the 2016 presidential election. Now they have put a price on the heads of our people. The UN security council should file war crimes charges, and Putin and his goons should be tried by the International Court, and face 50 years to life in prison. Putin needs to learn he is not infallible.
Leslie Putman El Dorado
To the Editor:
As I understand it you only put “letters to the editor” in the paper IF a person is a Union County Resident. Isn’t that Discrimination or Racist these days? Can anyone tell the difference between the two things anymore? I was born and raised in El Dorado, I have family there that I visit once a month, and I subscribe to your newspaper, therefore I do have a say about this issue, since by subscribing to the newspaper I am helping pay your salary. Pertaining to today’s issue June 26, 2020, on the article about the Confederate Statue, I think it is sick that anyone wants to remove any Statue throughout the United States of America. These riots are happening out of Ignorance. They are not happening because of Black and White issues that existed during the Civil War. Do any of you even know when that War occurred? I doubt it! Look it up! Do any of you know that their were White slaves too? I doubt it. Look it up! Why don’t you know any of this?, Because with all of the ignorance in today’s world, the children are no longer allowed to know the history of the United States, in which they live. I Pray they don’t learn from what is going on from our current Media/TV of today. Removing any Statue in El Dorado or anywhere else in the United States is a Disgrace to our wonderful country. I hope that El Dorado stands up to what is right for all United States Citizens. Red, Yellow, Black, White They Are All Precious in His Sight. Don’t take away U.S. History. Teach your children to Love All people and learn from the mistakes of all of our Ancestors, that None of us are responsible for today. Those times are in the past. Lets Move Forward.
Lisa Thomas Mountain Home