Letter: All civilizations have experienced slavery

Bruce and Marilyn Kendeigh
St Augustine, FL

Becoming property owners in St. Augustine almost twenty years ago, and having some mobility difficulties, we just wish to contribute our written opinion to Rev. Rawls’ demands.

At 75 years plus, we’ve seen some “interesting” situations, both good, and “what-the-hell-were-they-thinking” bad.

There is obviously an organized, national, ground swell of “tear-down-anything-our-group-doesn’t-want mentality. Even the Council on American Islamic Relations is weighing in on, and demanding, removal of Confederate monuments.

Please vote not to remove these monuments. Native Americans, the Spanish, English, and French could all say that, because of various sites in Old Town St. Augustine, they are, “people who have experienced pain because of them”.

Apparently, this pain and suffering felt by those that feel slighted, didn’t dissuade others that recognized the opportunities in America. Study, work hard, apply yourself to your values and family, and most of the time success comes.

All civilizations have experienced slavery. One fairly well known one, probably in one of Rev. Rawls’ books, reads “Let my people go”. Did Moses demand reparations from Pharaoh and the Egyptians?