Letters to the Editor: Confederates killed Americans and fought for slavery. Remove their names

To the editor: I do not get the problem people have with removing statues and names that celebrate 19th century American traitors. The Confederates waged an armed rebellion against the United States.

I have visited many Civil War battlefields, and standing at the Bloody Angle at Gettysburg, looking across the field where the third day’s battle was fought, I thought what I had been told about the area: that you could walk across that battlefield and not touch the ground, because you were walking on the bodies of men and horses.

I have never heard of a country that spent four years fighting against a rebel army at a terrible cost, and after their defeat, allowing them to erect monuments to the murderous traitors who instigated and perpetuated the bloodshed that cost the lives of 620,000 Americans.

So yeah, I don’t have a problem with monuments to Confederate officers being taken down from public spaces.

Marty Walsh, Lakeside, Calif.

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To the editor: I say take the Confederate statues down, but leave the pedestals with Black Lives Matter graffiti up. This would be a true monument to our times.

Margaret Parkhurst, Westchester

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To the editor: The president has a problem with taking a knee during the national anthem because it disrespects our flag, our country and our service members.

Yet, Confederate generals can wage war against our flag, our country and even kill our service members, and the president supports keeping their names on United States military bases. These Confederates were traitors and fought for the establishment of a non-democratic, racist nation that practiced human slavery.

This is another example of reconciliation for the slave owners but not the ex-slaves and their descendants.

Steven Jones, Eastvale, Calif.