Don’t remove the statues of Confederates; rather, erect a freedom bell beside each one.
Why? Because on Aug. 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain, Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill in Mississippi.”
King’s vision to let freedom ring means as much today as it ever has. And we can put it into action, literally, to teach ourselves and future generations that freedom and equality are basic to humanity, that liberty and equality are the essence of being human and in every human being, everywhere. That’s what “created” means in the Declaration of Independence.
We need those statues and freedom bells to remind us that supremacy is utterly un-American. Then anyone, any age, any ethnicity, any color, any culture, any religion, or any orientation, can walk up to a statue that honors the fight for slavery and ring a freedom bell to refute the mistaken claim of any state’s right to legalize slavery, oppression, supremacy, hatred, racism and bigotry.
So don’t take those statues down. Erect a freedom bell beside each one, and let equality and freedom ring out across this land. That would “make America great again.”
— Wesley Rediger, Upland, Ind.
