Create a $200 bill to recognize Tubman
I have a better idea for the concept of putting Harriet Tubman on U.S. currency.
Instead of trying to erase the past by removing one of 43 U.S. presidents from a bill, why not look forward to the future? Put her on a $200 bill. That’s worth 10 times a $20 bill and says infinitely more than revising history.
Just a thought.
John Gentile
Duanesburg
Unequal pay shows up in pro golf prizes
I’ve been a golfer for over 60 years and for the first time in my memory, there is a husband and wife playing at the top level of the sport.
I am speaking of Martin and Gerina Piller. They both played very well last week on the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) and Ladies Profession Golf Association (LPGA) tours. Martin finished in a five-way tie for fourth on the PGA tour and Gerina finished in a two-way tie for third on the LPGA tour.
Martin collected $233,740. Gerina collected $116,903. In these days of equal pay for equal work, there is an awfully big discrepancy in paychecks.
This situation doesn’t seem fair to me.
Tom Singer
Delanson
No need to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in U.S.
May is here. From coast to coast, American school children will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo. And once again, I will be asking — Why? Translated, Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May. Mexicans have celebrated that day for 150 years in remembrance of the Battle of Puebla.
While the United States was engaged in the American Civil War, France invaded Mexico. The Mexican peasants were no match for French military power, but they did score an unlikely win in one small battle at Puebla on May 5, 1862. The victory did nothing to curtail French control, but it became a source of pride and unity for the Mexicans. Since that time, May 5 has been sent aside as a special day to honor and celebrate Mexican patriotism.
The same year that the Battle of Puebla played out (involving only a few thousand Mexican and French soldiers), several huge battles were being fought in the United States in which hundreds of thousands of American men were engaged.
The U.S. soldiers were fighting not only to save the country, but to liberate 4 million black Americans held in slavery. The whole destiny of the United States of America rested on the outcome of those Civil War battles.
Consider that in one day at Sharpsburg, Md., in 1862 (the Battle of Antietam — approximately 132,000 soldiers involved) there were more casualties than in all the wars fought by Americans up until that time. More men were killed or seriously wounded at Sharpsburg in a single day (23,000) than in the Revolutionary War (eight years), the War of 1812 (three years,) and the Mexican War (three years) all put together. American soldiers suffered nine times more casualties at the Battle of Antietam than they did years later storming the beaches of Normandy.
It’s fine for children in Mexico to remember and honor Cinco de Mayo, but why is a day dedicated to Mexican patriotism celebrated with parties in U.S. schools? The situation would be rendered a little less distasteful if American students understood something about their own country’s history.
Most likely, the children participating in Cinco de Mayo festivities are not aware of the history behind it. But does that make the situation any better?
Perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, it does not seem like a big deal to most people. But to me, it is another visible symbol of the ongoing attack against our own American culture — aided and abetted by a dangerously deteriorating educational system.
Pamela Terlaak-Poot
Broadalbin
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