THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were Americans until they made a choice. Their choice was to become Confederate war generals; to side with a cause that would divide the United States into two countries. The Civil War was a bloody, violent, hateful war whose outcome reunited the divided nation. Many people today take pride in Confederate history and continue to honor the fallen involved in the Confederate effort.
I live in the United States of America. I have sworn to protect and defend not only the borders but the rules and laws that govern this nation. I am an American. I am proud to be an American. One nation under God. . . .
In World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and other battles before and after those wars, men and women of all races, creeds and religions have fought, died and upheld their honor and conviction to be Americans, to be free, to be the ones to make the world know that we are the nation of all nations, indivisible, with liberty and justice for. . . .
Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil-rights leader. He was an advocate of nonviolence. He spoke for a better America. He lived for a better America. He was incarcerated for a better America. He died for a better America. And justice for all.
Your choice to honor two Confederate war generals alongside a man who lived and died to bring peace and justice to our way of life is ludicrous and an insult to the honor and direction that we hope we guide our families, our nation and our world.
MICHAEL R. MALTINSKY
Portstmouth, Jan. 18, 1996 by CNB