The Monitor’s front page piece (4/29) regarding Hannah Duston referred to her as an English colonist. No, she was an American pioneer, born in Massachusetts. She was described as “murdering a bunch of Abenaki Indians.” No, she was abducted by marauding warriors who were taking her north into slavery after killing her infant. She was a prisoner of war. Writing that she “brutally killed 10 Abenaki people” is editorializing, not reporting.

The piece refers to the “Constitution’s guarantee of a separation of church and state.” No, such wording doesn’t exist in the Constitution. The only constitutional reference to religion is in the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion. This unfortunate article is the latest of countless examples of “reporting” that reminds us of how our schools fail us in the teaching history and civics and how our media fails us by slanting the news. Many of us look forward to the day when academia and the media focus less on dubious advocacy re: DEI, CRT, and climate change and more on educational and journalistic fundamentals.

Michael Moffett

Loudon