Bringing the aircraft carrier USS Ranger to Fairview as a museum and memorial, a proposal reported in The Oregonian’s July 5 article “Carrier on the Columbia,” is not a good idea. What is being memorialized? The Ranger’s extensive engagement in the Vietnam War and Gulf wars?

As this country winds down from yet two more wars, we need to develop an alternative story, one of a future free of violent conflict, one where conflict can be resolved through face-to-face conversations that lead to mutually acceptable solutions. The USS Ranger represents a model of the old way, in which power rules and grievances are not settled in a nonviolent and sustainable manner. The old way perpetuates conflict.

We do not need memorials to war; we need pathways to peace.

By Ray Jubitz

Published in The Oregonian at http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2012/07/letters_native_american_histor.html