I was just sickened to see what was done to the statue in front of St. John’s Lutheran Church. This war has got to stop. The only thing that comes out of destroying property is causing more hatred.

That statue represents history, good or bad, but it is part of all our history. Don’t we have a right to our history? You can tear all the statues down, you can resent us for what happened, but that is only going to make matters worse.

The only way for things to get better is to learn to respect each other. We all know how awful the blacks were treated and no one should ever forget that it happened, but we should all learn from the past and grow from it, not cause hatred to grow. This generation does not have slaves, this generation did not do that to the blacks. Yes, there are groups that still want to cause as many problems as possible, and that may never get better, but to me we need to learn how to live in peace.

— Bobbie Troutman

Salisbury