I was educated in the public school system of Louisiana and there were a lot of things taught to me that were left unexplained. Like the Dark Ages.
I wondered how a civilization could move from scientific and cultural enlightenment to intellectual darkness. I fear that I am witnessing a return to those unenlightened times as discourse and the knowledge of history is discouraged, limiting what we can be and what we can know.
In last Sunday’s article, “Five Things to Know about Memorial Day,” I was startled to read that at a 2021 Memorial Day celebration in Ohio, the ceremony’s organizers purposely muted the microphone when retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter began to share the history of the origin of Memorial Day by telling how Black churches honored the 267 Union troops who had been buried in a mass grave at a Confederate prison by re-burying them in individual graves soon after the Civil War.
I appreciate that Memorial Day has now been expanded to be a day of reflection and remembrance of those who died while serving in the U.S. military, but let’s not forget (and teach our children) our history!
DONNA CAIRE
Abita Springs