letters.

A Red Flag on Race

It was with great irritation that I noted the negative light in which you portrayed South Carolina in your stories on the Confederate flag controversy and on lynching ("Flag Furor" and "Mob Justice," 2/28/00). Lynchings and racism as a whole were not simply issues for our state or the South. What I am most concerned about is the rise of racism from the flag crisis. Your talking down South Carolina is doing nothing but angering whites, who then engage in more racist rhetoric and prevent compromise. You ought to be ashamed.

JOSEPH P. WATERS Greenville, S.C.

The flag should be taken down. What happened back then was awful, and displaying this Confederate flag is kind of saying it was all right to have slavery. If I lived in South Carolina, I would be embarrassed.

ELAINE PICKUS West Hartford, Conn.

It is wrong to take down the flag. It shows we can never forget history, or it is doomed to repeat itself. But I am not black, so I cannot tell how the flag may offend blacks.

ROBERT ARSHONSKY Cincinnati, Ohio

It should be taken to a museum.

ERIN NURMI Angora, Minn.

It should be in a place of remembrance. The war is gone; why not let it go? Keep history where it belongs.

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