Daniel’s plaque

Regarding “Ex-rep wants Josephus Daniels statue updated on massacre,” (May 8):

The expanded reality of the sought-after addendum to the Josephus Daniels plaque in Nash Square is not enough.

This is the time to push back the shadows of the past and assemble a fresh narrative from personal stories of our responses to the monument. The city history museum can provide public opportunities to ask ourselves: “What do we see in the monument today?

How were people a century ago looking at it? How would we memorialize it for people 50 years from now?”

Monuments are what we make them. Ours can transform controversy and uplift conscience, where everyone’s story together becomes greater than the sum of their conflicting parts, not just counter narratives, forever opposing each other.

Douglas A. Johnston,

Raleigh