Letter: It’s not right to rewrite history

I recently had a pleasant chat with a minister from a local black church while in a post office line. In a short period of time, I felt as though I had bonded with this man who had been a stranger only moments before. For one thing, he hates the term “political correctness,” and so do I!

One of his comments was, “The only people who truly have the right to call themselves African Americans are the very first black people brought from Africa to America.” Years ago I had a black student who said, “What is this African American stuff? I wasn’t born in Africa, I never intend to go to Africa; I’m an American who happens to be black.”

Some people think they are being “politically correct” to say “Native Americans” instead of “Indian.” But the people refer to themselves as Indian or, more likely, their specific tribal association.

Symbols of a particular period of history in this country are disappearing rapidly. No more Confederate flag, changing names of schools named for Confederate generals, statues being removed — the next thing you know, curriculum specialists in schools will be telling teachers they can’t even teach about the Civil War. Are we going to eliminate Dec. 7 as a day of recognition because we might offend certain Asians?

Name new schools or buildings for individuals who helped bring about changes in our country, but leave the other names alone — those people also were tied to changes in our country.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 10:04 AM with the headline "Letter: It’s not right to rewrite history."