(Letter to the Editor - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Military installations should not be named after Confederate rebels, and neither should Confederate monuments be allowed on public grounds.

Growing up as a kid in Glenville, W.Va., and attending our family reunions at Jackson’s Mill Park in Weston each summer I never gave any thought to the park being the namesake of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. Neither did I give much thought to all the other monuments and statues in public places bearing the names of confederate officers and leaders. I now realize we should not honor the treasonous rebels by naming any public institution or installation for them or by allowing any rebel monuments or statues on public property.

Many in our country have refused to accept the fact that the Confederacy and those supporting it were traitors to our country. In reading history, President Abraham Lincoln and especially President Andrew Johnson did not mete out the proper justice to the rebel officers and leaders. In an attempt to get our country back on as normal footing as possible after the Civil War, most or all the rebels’ treasonous conduct was forgiven and ignored. Rebels only had to sign a pledge of allegiance to our country they tried to overthrow. The Confederacy was fatally flawed and an illegal attempt to overthrow the government of the United States of America. We should not be proud of those who fought for that treasonous goal! In fact, the rebels were responsible for more Americans killed in the Civil War than from all other American war deaths combined.

But the Confederate States continued to deny equal rights to Black people and celebrated Confederate soldiers and leaders as heroes. The federal government did not punish the leaders of the Confederacy and allowed states to continue to violate the civil rights of Black citizens. This has manifested in a “simmering cauldron” of racism and discrimination that continues to the present day. The Trump administration, and the Congress that meekly follows his lead to weaken civil rights, would like nothing better than to return all civil rights determinations to the states, and in effect, diminish the authority of the federal government.

We cannot retreat into the hands of fear, hatred, discrimination, and isolationism. We are the United States of America, and we are composed of all races, religions, and ethnicities. Immigration is very much a strength of our country. Controlling our immigration is certainly necessary but only Congress can do that, not an authoritarian President acting illegally by sending masked federal agents into the streets who break the law by refusing to identify themselves. We must be a country governed by the rule of law and not populist sentiment.

John D. Gainer

Parkersburg