When I was in grade school in the1950s, I was taught that three big events all happened in 1619. One was the introduction of Black slaves into the English colonies. One was the start of local representative government in America in Virginias House of Burgesses. And another was the start of the cultivation of tobacco for export.

All 1619. Imagine that. Quite a mix of good and evil. Yet I grew up loving my country. Still do.

Columnist Leonard Pitts ("Sometimes you wonder what's so scary," May 16)pointed out old schoolbooks that fell short of truthfulness about slavery. Other books, and then movies, did too.

There is a 1930s Tarzan movie with this setup: A stuffy old Englishman is leading an expedition. Theyre on a narrow mountain ledge. Local African porters bearing packs. One porter loses his footing and falls to his death. Yaaaah!

The stuffy Englishman says, Myword! What was in that package?

Ouch. And I probably watched that movie as a kid on Saturday morning TV without noticing the dismissal of a human life for a package.

Slavery ended and evolved:the Klans terror, Jim Crow, Civil Rights. All ongoing evolutions. I hope Ive evolved. We can all do better. And will.

Maybe being woke isnt so bad.

Emmett Elrod, West Palm Beach

I have read innumerablelettersin this section, presumably from Republicans, decrying the crisis at the southern border. I have also read many missives, likely from the same group, bemoaning the lack of people wanting to work in low-paying jobs.

Can right-wingers not see that we have lost a half-million people this past year from COVID, many of them minimum-wage workers? Can they notunderstand that a few thousand refugees seeking asylum are a small part of what we need to replenish those ranks?

GOP supporters should make up their minds. Do they want workers in low-wage jobs? If they do, they should stop their incessant yapping about the so-called crisis at the southern border.

Randolph Flint, Boynton Beach

Re theletterBiden victory has been bad for the country (May 17):

It lists a host of complaints about foreign policy, thejob market and no gas.

What President Biden has done is attackthe pandemicand returnto Americans some semblance of normal living. Perhaps the writer needs to reassess hisvalues of what really matters as a human being. Its not a full tank of gas.

Anthony Frigo, Jensen Beach

The last free, fair and peaceful election in America may have been the 2016 election.

Anyone who thinks the American experiment in democracy hasnt been highjacked by the Republican Party is kidding themselves. And ex-President Donald Trump cannot take all the credit for it.

The sneaky and insidious attack on the right to vote started well before Trump, but he was the man who had a huge reality TV following that hung on his every word. So when he said, If I dont win, the election was rigged,that was the magnet that brought it all together.

Lindsay Graham, the senior senator from South Carolina, basically said it on apopular conservative news program:Trump has neither the demeanor nor the character to be the president, but we cant win without him.

What is going on with the secret recount in Arizona and now Michigan is spreading. Can it be stopped likethe mid-stage of a cancer?Or is it terminal?

David Clendining, Loxahatchee

The Palm Beach Post is committed to publishing a diversity of opinions. Please send your views to letters@pbpost.com or by mail to Letters to the Editor, The Palm Beach Post,2751 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL 33405. Letters are subject to editing, must not exceed 200 words and must include your name, address and daytime phone number (we will publish only your name and city).

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Letters: U.S. history is a mix of good and bad. We can handle it. - Palm Beach Post