I read with interest Ann C. Kehinde's letter ("Timing of Jackson-Lee event just coincidence?" Jan. 22). The idea of which came first, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday or the Jackson-Lee commemoration, is really a specious argument. Both Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson were born in January and lived in a different century than King, so they are predecessors. Why not chose the path of magnanimity and honor all three individuals that weekend?
My firm belief is that if the third weekend in January wasn't the date to celebrate Jackson and Lee, then whatever dates were ultimately chosen would be protested by a goodly percentage of those individuals who protested at Wyman Park on Jan. 17. If polled, it's my guess that those protesters believe it's wrong to honor the memories of Generals Lee and Jackson. They are also the same people who might deny that Maryland sent over 20,000 volunteers South to fight for the Confederacy in its struggle for independence.
I would advise the Maryland Sons of Confederate Veterans to stand firm in its commitment to honor Generals Jackson and Lee the third weekend in January. Once a group acquiesces to the demands of a vocal minority, those demands would not simply end with the mere changing of a date.
Lou Fritz, Baltimore