Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I do not agree with the removal of Confederate statues. They reflect a very important part of our history as a nation and explain the division between some areas of the country to this day. We should use that history to prevent such a catastrophic civil conflict from ever happening again and attack head-on anything in our political system or law enforcement or business as usual that continues to feed the racism, intolerance and ignorance that remains.

I spent my childhood in Massachusetts and came to Virginia with my family at the age of 10. Before attending schools in Richmond, I didn’t know anything about the Civil War. Never heard of it!

But at age 72, on a return visit to New Bedford, Mass., I strolled through the Commons that was near what was once our home. There stood the large monument in the center of the park that I climbed all over as a child. For the first time I read the inscriptions that were plainly chiseled into the stone. I was stunned...