Dunshee’s protest was unpopular but right

Based on the letters printed in The Herald’s editorial section, it would appear that the overwhelming majority of The Herald’s readers revere Jefferson Davis, wish the Confederacy had won the Civil War, and regard slavery as a kind of scholarship program which enabled unskilled Africans to learn a useful trade while getting free housing and meals. These letters are peppered with the usual buzzwords one encounters when slavery and the Confederacy are defended: “freedom,” “dignity” and, above all, “rights.”

Freedom, dignity and rights for the slave owners, of course, and none for their slaves. Putting up a monument to Jefferson Davis is only slightly less repugnant than putting up a monument to John Wilkes Booth. I applaud Rep. Hans Dunshee for doing the right thing, however unpopular it may be.

Marysville