Letter: Race problem requires change of heart, not monuments

Perhaps it’s the “Doctrine of Exclusion” and the inclusion of its tenets in promoting slavery, writing the constitution, the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws, Supreme Court rulings, immigration quotas and current conflicts between the black decedents of slaves and white decedents of slave owners.

The current controversy over removing stone monuments as reminders of white America’s history of dehumanizing and enslaving black people might be misdirected.

Individual members of both black and white races are a living memorials and daily reminder, to themselves and to the other, of the horrific treatment of black slaves by whites. Thus, the major focus need not be monuments.

Rather, concern might be given to what each race constantly symbolizes to the other: ongoing white privilege and black marginalization.

The race problem resides in the hearts and minds of living memorials, not in the presence of stone monuments.

This story was originally published October 9, 2017 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Race problem requires change of heart, not monuments."