Thank you, Carol Pomeroy, for reminding us the fundamental issue about the statue “Fame” and inscriptions on its base, is whether we, as a community, are willing to continue to offend and re-traumatize our neighbors whose family and cultural heritage includes slavery.

My faith instructs me to look at this public artifact — which once brought comfort and solace to members of my own family — and ask myself, “Is this so important to me that I am willing to perpetuate the post-traumatic stress it triggers in the psyche and soul of these, my brothers and sisters?” If I answer, “Yes,” then I am guilty of idolatry.

My faith demands I turn away from idolatry and to love my neighbor as I have been loved by the one who gave unconditional love to me. My faith, itself a gift of grace, empowers me to say, “No. This piece of art is not as important to me as is my loving relationships with the divine and the divine image carried in each of my neighbors.”My faith compels me to say, “Move the statue, and let me donate the first $100 toward the cost of moving it to a location at which we can respectfully remember the history it signifies without glorifying the evil which caused individuals, persons created by the one who created each of us, such massive torment.”

To whom do I write the check and to what address do I send it?

— GeoRene Jones

Salisbury