If it were not for the Senate’s only black representative, Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.), this great governing body, would have continued to sanction the use of the insignia featuring the Confederate flag, by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It is appalling, but not surprising, that many members of the Senate are indifferent to the needs and sensitivities of most Americans. Even senators with presidential ambitions, such as Sam Nunn and Bob Dole, apparently have no idea how offensive this symbol is to most members of our society.

NATHANIEL OWENS II, Beverly Hills

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Since when has the criterion for approval of a patent or any other trademark been whether it is offensive to an ethnic group? If Sen. Moseley-Braun and her cronies in the Senate desire “to put a stake through the heart of this Dracula,” why not also impale the Volkswagen trademark; raze the many Greek-styled edifices in our nation’s capital; condemn Presidents Washington and Jefferson; and repudiate the Bible. Volkswagen, after all, was Hitler’s “people’s car”; Greco civilization and its acclaimed democratic values effloresced because of slavery; many presidents owned chattels and approved of the peculiar institution of the Confederate states; and the Bible is imbued with passages regarding slavery and servitude.

The African-American community must realize that the only avenue toward total equality is not by having the government refuse patents or promulgate innocuous fiats, but for its members to educate themselves and begin living for the future, not wallow in the past.

TINOU T. BAO, Lake Forest