Free Press founder was right about Monument Avenue
7/3/2015, 3:01 p.m.
I remember when Raymond H. Boone, honoring iconic Richmonder and newspaperman John Mitchell Jr. three summers ago, said this about our community:
“When we look at Monument Avenue, this is very perverted. Where else do you know a city, a country that would glorify villains, a country that would glorify people that would try to destroy this country and would try to keep black people enslaved?”
With due respect to our cautious and “practical” city and state political leaders, Mr. Boone was correct then and he is correct today. Relegating historic relics to museums and ending the Lee-Jackson holiday are obvious steps forward. These things should be easy.
Finding the money required to provide the opportunities which were destroyed by slavery, Jim Crow and segregation will take vision, courage and many years of labor. But, political leaders and fellow citizens, that is the course we must pursue.
BEN RAGSDALE
Richmond
