Editor, The Herald:

Greg Eanes’ comparing of calls for removal of the Confederate flag with the attempts by Nazi Germany to persecute Jews (“‘Feeding Frenzy’ On Confederate Flag Reminds Of Nazi Germany,” Friday, July 10) is both ridiculous and ironic.

It’s ridiculous because the calls of removal are from public areas and buildings only. Mr. Eanes and anyone else who wishes is free to fly the Confederate flag on his own property as the First Amendment guarantees freedom of expression — something the Jews in Germany didn’t have. In addition, I haven’t heard of any calls for Confederate descendants being required to wear a yellow Confederate flag sewn on their clothes.

His analogy is also highly ironic in that white extremists use both the Confederate and Nazi flag almost interchangeably to represent white supremacy and resistance to the federal government.

While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did wish the descendants of both slaves and slaveholders to unite in brotherhood, I seriously doubt that if Dr. King were still alive he wouldn’t be leading the call for removal of the Confederate flag. The NAACP has been boycotting South Carolina since 1962, when the Confederate flag was first raised over the state capitol coinciding with the civil rights movement.

James Peca

Farmville