Letter: Salisbury shouldn’t hide ‘Fame,’ or its history

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, April 2, 2019

There’s nothing like a little vandalism to begin a conversation. Once again, a misguided someone threw paint on the statue “Fame” at Innes and Church streets. Thanks to this latest act of “bravery,” I can feel the melting away of racial tension in this town and it being replaced with peace and harmony.

As long as we are hell-bent on totally erasing our history, I have another idea. I think we should begin renaming a lot of our streets in town. I can only imagine how people must feel when forced to drive on roads with the names Lee, Jackson, Richmond, Rebel and Confederate, to name a few. Perhaps we could calm these people with new names such as Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Chamberlain or Union.

I’m getting fed up with this statue debate. There should be no debate. These statues are a symbol of our history — good, bad or indifferent. History happened. Deal with it.

These statues aren’t so much about a celebration as they are information. Obviously, these statues invoke passion. That is a good thing. It encourages debate. It reminds us of what we’ve done and what we should not repeat. This “out-of-sight” and out-of-mind crowd must not prevail. After all, if you ignore history, you’re doomed to repeat it. That assumes people know much about history to begin with.

— Allan Gilmour

Salisbury