Monday letters: After Confederate flag, both races need to work for inclusion

I am a middle-aged white woman who has been a supporter for bringing the Confederate flag down and putting it in a museum for as long as I can remember. The State House is a place for the people of the state of South Carolina. A symbol that represents segregation, hatred, racism and oppression to a large percentage of our state had no place being on the grounds of the people. The Confederate memorial should remain as a way to honor the casualties of the war.

I feel that it is equally important that the black community stand up and fight to be inclusive instead of divisive. This means that we need to have the history of all people taught during the school year, not have Black History Month. It means no Black Expo, Black Miss America, Legislative Black Caucus or other events or groups that promote the black community exclusively.

Can you imagine the outrage if the white community wanted to have a white event? The NAACP would be on fire demanding protests and boycotts.

Either we are going to be inclusive as a people or we are going to be selectively segregated. We need to focus on things that are important like getting off the bottom in education while on the top for sexually transmitted diseases, stopping teen pregnancy both black and white, stopping gang violence. Let’s get more kids in college than jail. Let’s work together to make it a great day in South Carolina for everybody.

This story was originally published July 26, 2015 at 7:27 PM.