Editor: This question of changing names and removing monuments related to the Confederacy, or to any other element of history is ridiculous – it’s only an appeasement of malcontents and a waste of taxpayer money, including the cost of distributing the Fairfax County’s government’s postcard queries (I received three at my address).
Not only is it a waste of money, changing names on roads, schools, etc., would cause great confusion, especially to visitors to our area for events such as school reunions. There would be a disconnection with old maps and literature – history incongruent with the present. It would not only be a loss but also confusing and inconvenient!
Besides all that, where and when would this indulgence to the so-called victim finalize? Shouldn’t everything represented of the old South and slavery be re-named? Shouldn’t this include the name of Washington, D.C.? The folly would be limitless!
Unfortunately, victimhood is the squeaky wheel trend-in-vogue appeased by a sappy generation of late.
Every race had slaves, and they exist today in Africa and elsewhere.
Changing historical names won’t change history, just as the silly change of “mortuary” to “funeral home” never made the “mort” alive again.
Richard Otto, McLean