If ‘plantation’ is the Hilton Head ‘brand,’ it’s time to change brands | Letters

We don’t understand why it takes an uprising following the tragic death of George Floyd to again draw attention to the fact that naming our wonderful communities “Plantations” is offensive and disrespectful.

We, and others, have addressed this issue with our general manager and the POA board in HHP (let’s pretend it’s Hilton Head Pines – you know, like our sister community, Sea Pines), and the matter was brushed aside because HHP is a “branded” community, and the legal matters would be insurmountable.

We can’t imagine for an instant that legal fees or procedures could not be worked out, and if this is how we are branded, we believe it’s time to change our brand.

We love everything about where we live – except the name.

Ours is an interracial family. When this topic was raised a few years ago at a dinner party with local acquaintances, one person, who became rather vehement, responded: “You forget that you’re in the South now.” Another actually asked us if our family members pick cotton when they come to visit us. REALLY!

This is not a geographic issue. This is not a political issue. This is about shedding a negative racial stigma and respecting human kind.

HHP should have stepped up years ago and been a leader on the island. For whatever reason, they have resisted.

The time is overdue to join our friends in Sea Pines, Palmetto Dunes, and Indigo Run, and change our brand for the better.

Dave and Lavonne Hales

Hilton Head Island

Extremists trying to take our country away. Stop this!

I had a professor of social psychology in 1970 who suggested many thought-provoking ideas. He said being an individual is a full-time job. An open mind does not necessarily mean your brains have to fall out. Anger, violence, anguish, and despair is the mark of the present-day liberal or human turned non-human.

I worked hard and planned how to enjoy the retirement I have today. I took many airplane trips to meetings and training sessions, stayed in many hotel rooms, ate many meals by myself away from family, and stayed out late to succeed and provide. No, I am not a white supremacist. No, I am not privileged. I am a human being and a proud American.

What we are witnessing today in our great America is good vs. evil. There is no other way to label it. The Rothschilds, George Soros and their paid deep state players are all out for themselves and not for you and me. They want to control everything we do and think. They are criminals against humanity.

My professor said to stay away from extremes. You must not reduce life to an extreme – any extreme, however fortuitous it might appear, however moral it might sound – because it is from these positions on the extreme that a man will fight against all of the high horizons of human affairs, and will come to deny morality, science, status, reason, truth, reality and everything else of value.

The extremists are trying to take our country away. Stop this!

Rick Sweet

Bluffton

There’s another tragedy involved in the death of George Floyd

Yes, the death of George Floyd is sad and is a tragedy. The police officer who killed him, and his fellow officers, are being held accountable. They face criminal charges, including murder.

But the real tragedy is what has followed. Out-of-control looting, burning, and even killing has reached a point that no longer has anything to do with George Floyd’s death.

Black lives matter has become a politically-backed group supported by left-wing billionaires, like George Soros, who hate America. Similar is Antifa, a radical group funded by the same people who are dead set on bringing down America as we know it today.

If black lives really mattered, why have they not protested and done something about the hundreds of black lives that are lost every week in Chicago and other cities. Is it because black lives matter only if killed by whites, but they don’t matter if they are killed by other blacks? The hypocrisy is mind blowing.

Ask yourself why Democratic-run cities are the poorest and have the most unrest. Honest Democrats, you know this is not the same party of JFK. It is becoming a radical group bent on changing this great country.

Adam Rosica

Hilton Head Island

Condemning police is destructive to nation

I wanted to write about the ongoing and planned clear-cutting of trees in Bluffton and Hardeeville – permitted by law. I will detour, instead, to the violent riots and looting – not permitted by law. Both have a shared element: destruction!

First, the officers who were fired and arrested in Minnesota for the death of George Floyd will be and are being judged by many: the public, their families, the courts, and even themselves. Whatever punishment they receive, will likely never satisfy the masses. True justice, however, comes from God. Not an arbitrary human justice, but one meted out by the Creator’s perfect Law of Sowing and Reaping. Jail time is punishment, but not necessarily a redemption of one’s guilt. This is an individual responsibility.

Condemning the police is just another form of ignorance, like judging an entire race based on the actions of some bad individuals. I worked with many officers who gave up their own lives to save others without regard to the person’s race, color, creed, etc.

I hold dearly to Martin Luther King Jr.’s words about judging others “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” The same goes for those in police uniforms.

Those who have been rioting and inflicting harm on the police have revealed the content of their character. “Antifa,” with its so-called “anti-fascist” mission, has made a mockery of all military personnel who fought and died by the thousands fighting true fascism on the beaches of Normandy!

Gene Ceccarelli

Bluffton

We’re witnessing major divides in politics and worldview

So, how did the coronavirus pandemic become so political?

The easy explanation is to claim Trump Derangement Syndrome, but it may be more complicated than that.

Research shows that among the six universal moral foundations – care, fairness, loyalty, liberty, authority and sanctity – liberals prioritize care and fairness and conservatives engage all equally.

Accordingly, liberals feel conservatives are selfish and mean-spirited as they push to reopen the country. Liberals claim more compassion since they are willing to do whatever is necessary to save one more life while conservatives are equally concerned with the struggles of 40 million unemployed Americans and a nation facing economic collapse.

Likewise, conservatives emphasize personal responsibility and individual freedom. Liberals are more comfortable letting government manage the crises and continue the flow of relief checks.

Now consider the civil unrest and rioting across the U.S. since the senseless death of a black man in police custody.

Liberals have given the protesters/rioters wide latitude, tolerating the burning and looting of private and public property and widespread injuries to police.

Conservatives will more likely use enhanced police force to ensure public safety and mitigate the destruction of homes and businesses.

Of the 25 cities with the worst rioting, all are governed by Democratic mayors.

The divide is great but pray to God we can heal this country together.

Brian Thoreson

Moss Creek

March for ‘brown people’

I so admire the protesters and their cause, but they need to add that Brown People Are People.

I’ve been working for justice for Latinos for 63 of my 82 years, and I see them so mistreated and indirectly killed, put in detention centers full of coronavirus. The most important are the children pulled from parents’ arms and put in cages, even those under a year of age.

Where are the marches for those poor little ones? With DNA, they could unite them with parents in the USA or their countries. Do they expect those children to grow up in cages? And then what?

Fran B. Reed

Hilton Head Island

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This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 8:52 AM.