Editor, the News-Herald:

Confederate History and Heritage Month?

Could someone please tell me what we are celebrating?

I may be quite ignorant on this issue but what black man or woman fought willingly to defend the Confederate States of America? True, there may have been blacks who died because they were following orders or defending their personal lives, but not to defend the causes of rich, white plantation owners.

What is next? Should we celebrate the sacrifices of those poor Nazi soldiers, because surely Mayor Bobby L. Ralph could say that they, too, &uot;were brave men who fought for what they believed in and thought was right,&uot; as he was quoted in the Herald talking about Confederate Soldiers?

Sure a great many of them may have known that Hitler was killing everyone that he thought was not worthy to be a member of his Third Reich, but what about the other soldiers, the ones that just thought that they were defending and fighting for their &uot;Vaterland?&uot;

You may say this is ridiculous, that we would never celebrate the atrocities that have taken place there, but what is the difference?

Just like the extermination of Jews and other unfortunate people was an atrocity so, too, is slavery.

So, could someone please tell me what we are celebrating?

Corey D. Askew

Suffolk