Special treatment for blacks insulting
A recent letter ignores established facts about our history (“The Real Crimes of Past Centuries,” Readers write, June 29). The writer, like others, likes to blame the South for all of the ills of slavery. Is he not aware one-third of the slaves lived in the North? Is he not aware that Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed only those slaves in the Confederate states, and then only so long as they remained in rebellion? Is he not aware that it was New England slave traders who bought, transported and sold slaves?
Is he not aware of entire black units as well as substantial numbers of individual soldiers who bravely fought in the Confederate army to defend their new homeland? Is he not aware that Robert E. Lee freed all of his slaves before the war, while Gen. Grant refused to do so until the 13th Amendment passed? True, the majority of slaves were in the South, but let’s at least be honest when we point fingers.
We are now several generations past the Civil War. The suggestion that black Americans still need special treatment to succeed should be insulting to black Americans. Only welfare reform, as in the 1990s, can break this cycle and improve the lives of all Americans.
JOHN WATSON, MARIETTA
Crossover voting sabotages elections
It is very typical of liberal columnists to put a spin on the recent U.S. Senate race in Mississippi (“Senator violates old taboo,” Opinion, June 29). He justifies the crossover of Democratic voters to influence the Republican primary as an “outreach” by establishment Republican Party members to voters who would normally vote for only Democrats. He also states that an unwritten rule to not encourage crossover voting is a rule that needed to be broken.
Nothing could be further from the truth. American voters already have serious concerns that our elections have been infiltrated by non-qualifying candidates and voters. Liberal birds would cry foul and sing the blues if this scenario were reversed and caused their candidate to lose. Sabotaging the electoral process by the opposing party or even, at times, by the same party causes citizens to lose faith in our election process. It should be an aberration that is not tolerated by any American voter.
J.A. JERNIGAN, ATLANTA
