Why is S.C. one of five states that continues to celebrate Confederate Memorial Day? | Opinion

Holiday past its prime

On Friday, we celebrated Confederate Memorial Day here in South Carolina, a holiday I believe it is far past time to do away with.

We are one of only five states that recognize Confederate Memorial Day as a state holiday, meaning state offices are closed.

We are also one of only two states, the other being North Carolina, where Confederate Memorial Day is on May 10 because that is the day that Gen. Stonewall Jackson died in 1863 after being accidentally shot by his own men just a week earlier.

May 10 is also the day Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured in Georgia by Union forces of the 1st Wisconsin and 4th Michigan Calvary.

The Confederate States of America was a failed, traitorous nation birthed to preserve the institution of slavery.

And if you don’t want to take my word for it that the Confederacy was born to preserve slavery, just take a look at South Carolina’s own seceding documents.

The declaration laid out the primary reasoning behind South Carolina’s secession from the Union as an “increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the Institution of Slavery.”

Hayden Laye, Walhalla

Roads before sports

If the state can send $3 million to Lexington County for a sports complex, it can appropriate $3 million for road repairs first.

John Britton, West Columbia

Address contract issue

Schools around the state celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week last week, but I wish our state legislators would show their appreciation for teachers by passing the legislation that would change the out-dated, degrading old contract system.

It is past time to stop treating pre-k through 12th-grade teachers like servants.

Many have advanced degrees and all are dedicated to the children they serve. They prove that every day.

It’s time for the legislature to stop talking about teachers, and do something for them.

Elizabeth Russell, Columbia

Honoring nurses

Note: The writer is president of the S.C. Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

Thanks to all who helped celebrate Nurse Appreciation Week, a time to recognize the importance of nurses in the South Carolina healthcare system.

Year after year, millions of patients across our state depend on the compassionate care and exceptional capabilities of RNs for their health and well-being.

As anesthesia experts, SC’s 1,400+ Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) are proud to work alongside our nurse colleagues to keep patients comfortable and safe during surgery, labor and delivery, trauma stabilization, and other types of procedures that require anesthesia. Throughout the day, our role may intersect with the roles of operating room nurses, circulating nurses, scrub nurses, post anesthesia care unit nurses, recovery room nurses, intensive care unit nurses, emergency room nurses – all sharing a common goal of providing watchful care to our patients during the most vulnerable times of their lives.

Is it any wonder that, once again, the results of the 2023 annual Gallup Poll showed that Americans gave nurses the highest ethics rating for the 24th consecutive year?

For all of us who comprise the community of nurses, patient care is more than a livelihood, it’s an honor and privilege.

Cheryl L. Schosky, Taylors