Letters to the Editor

South Carolina, it’s time to move Confederate monuments from public places

White supremacists incited deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, recently in defense of a Confederate monument. We must show the country that South Carolina gives no safe harbor to such hatred. We must remove the monuments in our state.

Confederate symbols on public land endorse a movement founded on white supremacy. If our government continues to pay homage to the Confederacy, people of color can never be sure they will be treated fairly. We will never solve our community’s problems if an entire group of citizens feels targeted for discrimination.

Confederate symbols belong in museums and on private property. In museums, we can learn their full history. Citizens will always have the right to fly the Confederate flag. They can still erect monuments on their own property. That will not change.

But it is past time to move our monument to an appropriate place. Gov. McMaster, Senators Graham and Scott, Congressman Tom Rice, and the rest of our community, should research how to remove the monument. Then we should act.

Ashlyn Preaux, Myrtle Beach

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