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Letter: Confederate statue must be taken down

Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The Civil War statute in Mathews is a constant reminder of the oppression and treason perpetrated by the rebellious South. The members of the Confederate Army were traitors and their place in history is clear. The statute honors those traitors to the United States. They were erected decades after the war, not as memorials and tributes, but as intimidating reminders of Jim Crow oppression and racial hatred. They no more deserve monuments here in the U.S. than Hitler does in Germany.

Please be aware that removing—or moving—the Confederate monument is not historical erasure. The same logic could have been used to justify maintaining signs that read, “Negro water fountains,” for example, which were taken down after 1964 with the passing of the Civil Rights Act.

The actions of these soldiers are neither heroic nor patriotic. To honor them with words like “intrepid,” “chivalrous,” “valorous” and “self-sacrificing” absolutely contradicts history. In actual f...

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