Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The virulence of the recent verbal attacks upon Southern heritage and history are such as to engender a bitter resentment from those who respect the heritage of Southerners. This is not going to end well, but that is no doubt the purpose of this effort to demean and discredit. Creating further division among the population is the ultimate goal; this phenomenon should be evident to the most casual observer. Few are aware of the factual history of the bitter conflict that divided this country so many years ago.

Does anyone any longer respect peace and dignity? This poses a time where many of our citizens could well be forced to defend themselves from the onslaught should the attacks degenerate from the vocal to physical. Listen to the rant by the former Black Panther leader. How many others are out there with a similarly vicious mindset?

Those of us over the age of 50 have witnessed a precipitous decline of our culture, that decline is advancing at an ever greater rate. With a corrupt government with little respect for the rule of law, with the economy and monetary system in shambles, while creating deep divisions among the citizenry, how much longer can this nation and people withstand the rot that is eating away at the country’s foundational structure?

What is occurring has a nagging similarity to the pogroms that occurred in Germany against the Jews during the 1930s. Jewish symbols were destroyed, defaced and with attacks upon the people themselves. All rational people should be appalled at the attacks and the level of intolerance that is being directed to an event where the historical context of a war that occurred 150 years ago has been distorted beyond recognition. Ignorance is now riding with the horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Andrew Maggard

Port Haywood, Va.