Don’t remove names of all slave owners
The Democratic Party of Connecticut removed the names Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson from their annual fund-raising dinner under pressure from the NAACP.
Saying it was the right thing to do, President Jefferson was, indeed, a slave owner and President Jackson was no less than a slave trader at one time in his life. But 10 of our first 12 U.S. presidents, at some time in their lives, owned slaves.
Shall we remove all the names of states, cities, streets or schools named for these presidents? I think not!
Let us learn some history from what was “the thing to do” and move on with life.
Ellis Schurman, Mariposa
This story was originally published July 31, 2015 at 4:42 AM with the headline "Don’t remove names of all slave owners."