Opinion

The past is still with us in the present

Posted January 21, 2012 4:00 am

Is it just me, or did anyone else find the picture in the Jan. 17 edition of the Daily Herald accompanying the article on Page 2 regarding the honoring of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in South Carolina to be disconcerting?

The picture is of an African-American woman attending the commemoration program in the state capitol in Columbia. Over her right shoulder flies a flag bearing the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy.

The juxtaposition of the flag and the woman attending that particular program indicates that, although we have come a long way with civil rights in this country, the past is still with us in the present.

Tom Paulsen

Wheaton