Embrace slave statue as a learning experience

By Mildred Strong

I felt a sense of vindication as I read the article by Carlton Waterhouse, "Beyond Guilt and Shame," Aug. 21. He spoke so eloquently to my sentiments. Why would you be ashamed of the millions of Africans who were enslaved in this country? Rather the shame should be on a nation that labeled a people as sub-human for material gain.

My grandfather was a slave until he was 8 years old. He was a man of innate intelligence, integrity and determination, not because of slavery, but in spite of it. He was also a man of faith despite the indignities he experienced in a "Christian nation."

He moved his family to Indianapolis from Mississippi in the early 1920s and continued to be an example to his family and others that all men have dignity. So let us display "E Pluribus Unum" in a prominent place in this city, so that we may ponder the futility of slavery and its far-reaching effects, realizing that slavery was an important part of American history. Let us not hide from our past but use it as a painful learning experience. Then we can begin to make America, which is a great nation, even greater.