Re “‘Tear those statues down:’ Richmonders decry mayor’s plan to put Confederate statues ‘ in context,’” Free Press June 29-July 1 edition:

I am a senior citizen who is tired of some people acting as though our heritage is offending them. Everyone should be proud of who they are.

My late husband was a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. They worked in Hollywood Cemetery cleaning up overgrown graves, and hauled off trash so people could visit their ancestors’ gravesites. The members also worked tirelessly to get a Confederate flag on our license plates only to have them taken away.

If those of you who resent the statues and Confederate flag would read the history books, neither the flag or statues are hurting anyone.

How would you feel if we demand all of your statues and parts of your heritage be removed?

Richmond has a lot of tourists coming to our city to visit both heritages, and that means tax dollars for our city. All of the money that it would take to remove statues and to change school and street names is money that should be used to improve our schools and our law enforcement to make our communities safer.

Let’s join together to respect one another and make our city a place we can all be proud of. Let Mayor Levar M. Stoney do his job as he was elected to do, and I must say he is doing a good job.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the General Assembly don’t need to remove and rename the state holiday for Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. We have had far too much taken from us. Each of us is entitled to our heritage. Do you wish to have African-American holidays and statues removed?

IRMA CUMMINGS

Richmond