Letter to the editor: Statues and righting wrongs

Touring Germany I saw no statues of Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess or other Nazi criminals. In Italy I found none of Benito Mussolini. I doubt Cambodians honor Pol Pot in bronze or granite. And I was pleased watching on television as the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled.

In America we memorialize traitors and worse with statues and by naming military properties after Confederate Army generals. Does Nathan Bedford Forrest, a founder of the Ku Klux Klan, really deserve a statue? These men fought against the Union and for slavery. Only President Abraham Lincoln’s policy of “malice toward none and charity for all” allowed them to escape punishment.

To argue it’s all about our history is insulting. The same can be said of those from other countries listed above. If it’s Civil War history you seek, bookstores and libraries await. If your interest is scoundrels, I recommend T. Harry Williams’ 884-page biography of Huey Long as a starter.

No statue ever taught history, and German children standing at the base of a likeness of Dr. Josef Mengele aren’t likely to be inspired to be scientists.

Now is a perfect time to undo past wrongful acts which have placed us on the wrong side of history. Put the statues in museums where they belong.

Glenn R. Plummer

Unity