Sylva Sam messed up the view
To the Editor:
Driving through Sylva today I noticed the steps of the old courthouse beautifully decorated with rows of American flags. It was breathtaking. This display was in observance of Veterans Day, and I was filled full with pride and gratitude.
Well … there on those same steps, near the top, stands Confederate soldier Sylva Sam keeping vigil over Main Street. It was disorienting. I mean, granted, Sam was a veteran, but didn’t he fight against the United States? Has it been forgotten that Sam pledged allegiance to the invented Confederate States of America? As a Confederate soldier he swore to uphold and defend its constitution which enshrined “the right to property in negro slaves” into irrevocable Southern law. So, Sam was not an American veteran at all. In fact, he fought to destroy our union in order to protect slave ownership. Think about that. It’s historical fact.
That is why it was surreal today to see those American flags flapping around Sylva Sam as if he, too, was being honored and thanked for this service … as if he was in the same category as any other American veteran. He was not and is not the same. It’s 2022. It’s time to acknowledge the truth. Take Sam down but leave the flags up. Displaying the American flag in honor of our veterans should not include honoring those who fought to destroy our nation for slavery’s sake.
Faye Kennedy
Whittier
