I'm getting tired of revisionist twaddle from the Sons of Confederate Veterans ("Hopkins intolerant of traditional values," letters, Dec. 5). There was nothing noble or honorable about fighting for the Confederacy. This was a league of traitors who precipitated a war that led to the deaths of more than 600,000 Americans.
Should anyone doubt that the war was fought over the practice of human slavery, I suggest they read the secession declarations of the various Confederate state legislatures.
After their disgraceful rebellion was crushed, many of these Southern "gentlemen" engaged in a war of terror to prevent their former slaves from enjoying the rights they were entitled to under the Constitution.
This is a tradition we should be ashamed of, not celebrate.
I applaud the decision of Johns Hopkins to refuse to be associated with this nonsense. And, as for the Lee-Jackson monument, perhaps the time has come to melt it down and recast it as a memorial to the victims of slavery and lynchings and the heroes of the civil rights era.
Dick Boulton/Ellicott City
Click for Full Text!