Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition

Renaming streets takes political correctnes­s too far

- Kathleen Dempsey, Pompano Beach

In response to the July 30 letter to the editor “Part of history lost,” I agree that replacing the names of Confederat­e generals Robert. E. Lee, John Hood, and Nathan Bedford Forrest on local streets in Broward is carrying political coreectnes­s way too far.

Like it or not, this country fought the Civil War, and those generals are part of our national history. George Washington had slaves, and so did seven other sitting presidents, including Thomas Jefferson, who wrote much of our historic laws and documents. Of course slavery was wrong — no one disputes that. But would those local idiots wanting to replace the street names advocate removing these historic names from public places as well?

My forebearer­s fought in the American Revolution, and my ancestors from Pennsylvan­ia fought with the Union in the Civil War. Many in our family are married to descendent­s of those who served on the Confederat­e side. We all love each other and respect our forebearer­s, who did what they believed in during that time period.

From what I have been told, these days very little American history is taught in schools, so it is doubtful that younger people even know who these generals were with the possible exception of Lee. Lincoln stressed “with malice toward none...” and respect for all. That should apply to our nation’s history — all of it.

In my humble opinion, the current craze of political correctnes­s that is sweeping this country has gone far beyond the point of common sense. Let’s honor and respect all Americans and try to focus on working together for the common good.

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