Mayor Sarno’s statement in The Springfield Republican on the Dr. Seuss mural “You have to put your foot down and draw a line in the sand” refers to a great time of courage in our history!
In 1836 Lt. Col. William Barrett Travis and 163 Texans took refuge in the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas against 4,000 Mexican troops under General Santa Anna. Their choice was simple, surrender or die! Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword. Those that wished to surrender and live should step over it! 163 brave men did not. Out of ammunition they used their muskets as clubs and fought to the last man!
Mad men and women should not rewrite American History! If a mural painted in 1937 offends people after being viewed for 80 years, it may be the politically correct viewers not the artist who are at fault! Murals, statues and works of art such as paintings and sculptures should not be harmed by the politically correctness police!
Are they going to insist that bras and panties be painted on nudes done by the great masters? If we are attacking racially-charged monuments like Gen. Robert E. Lee who was an American Civil War hero, how about the Jefferson Memorial?
President Jefferson not only owned slaves but had children with one of them!
It is just plain wrong to condemn people in our past who lived in different cultures! Mayor Sarno is right, a line must be drawn in the sand and art should not be affected by the politically correct right or left!
Bill Hardie
Russell, MA
