To the Editor:

It is my opinion that the memorial statue honoring the Confederate States of America and those men of Union County who fought for the Confederacy in rebellion against the United States of America be removed to a museum setting and displayed in context with the Civil War, the history of the Daughters of the Confederacy who financed its placement, and the history of institutional racism both past and present. It is time for our community to recognize the institutional racism that this memorial statue honors and the hurt it causes in nearly 50% of our citizens. It is important for our political leaders to lead the way toward the limitation of institutional racism. There is no more propitious time than now to move toward a less divisive future for El Dorado, Union County, and the rest of the Nation.

I must note that memorial statues are almost always about honoring a person or an event from history. These memorial statues are not history in themselves, they honor history. Removing one that honors a dishonorable person or event does not blot that person or event from history. This act of removal actually acknowledges this history. Let us acknowledge this phase of history, and the men who participated as being in direct rebellion against the United States of America and for the continuation of human bondage by not giving this memorial statue a place of honor in our city. Let us, instead, recognize and remember this phase of our history for what it was by placing this memorial statue in a museum setting where we can all learn from the lessons of the history it portrays.

Let me be clear, I do not advocate, as many do, the removal of memorial statues honoring individuals who are honored as important to the United States of America or the progress of the world as a whole. We must recognize these people in the context of THEIR history and culture, not in the context of ours. Their culture is not our culture. The ethics and public standards of their lifetime are not ours. We cannot judge previous behavior by 2020 standards. As an example, many of our founding fathers owned slaves. It was the culture within which they lived. We do not honor them for this, we honor them for their part in the birth of our nation and the moral values they tried to instill in our nation, not for their failings based on 2020 moral values. So, the removal of any memorial statue should be done with considered care and intelligent, logical decision making, not for emotional knee jerk purposes to appease the vocal for purely political purposes. It is the purpose of the memorial, what act or action that is being honored, that must be carefully considered.

I, as a white 77 year old military retiree, have never been face to face with institutional racism. I have never had to face the daily burden of being held back or down because of what I was. I have never been looked down on by society because of my skin tone, my culture, or the history of my ancestors. Because of this, I cannot claim to fully understand the depth of emotional hurt the Black citizens of Union County face when they see a memorial statue honoring those who fought for the institution of slavery standing in a place of honor on their court house grounds. But I believe my fellow Black citizens when I am told of the emotional hurt caused by the memorial statue honoring the Confederate States of America and the institution of slavery it ultimately, if not overtly, honors.

Let us remove this memorial statue and request the South Arkansas Historical Preservation Foundation accept its donation for display at the Gallery of History Museum.

Respectfully,

L.t. Commander Steve Terry, USN (Retired)