To the editor:

Last week's Phoenix contained a letter to the editor attacking and ridiculing Stephan Brigidi regarding his efforts to have the town council approve a privately-funded monument on town-owned land honoring the lives of people who were enslaved during the notorious days of Bristol's participation in the slave trade, where some of the town's most prominent citizens were actively involved.

And while I found the letter attacking Stephan to be both disturbing and infuriating, it actually did not surprise me, given that Bristol residents such as Stephan are routinely criticized in letters to the editor due to their political and social beliefs. It also reinforced a very clear point that we as a town, a country, and a society still have a very long way to go in combating and denouncing systemic racism, and this monument would help to educate generations for years to come and help to heal those wounds.

I'll be watching our town council very closely as they debate this issue, but with the council having three conservative members comprising a majority, I don't have much optimism about this proposal being approved. And that is quite unfortunate, because as the famous statesman Winston Churchill once said, "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it".

Mike Proto
245 Chestnut St.