Re “Strange Fruit? Critic: Oak evokes lynching image at Walker statue site,” Dec. 24-26 edition:

Gary Flowers is oh so right. Mr. Flowers understands the process of concentration. The tree and the statue each require individual attention.

The real problem is that so many of our elected leaders never understood culture. Example: Pine Camp Arts and Community Center on Old Brook Road once had an average of 7,000 patrons per month, but now maybe about 500. Complaints about the problems were never answered.

Another example: Putting a slave museum at the very location where Virginia Union University was born and destroying the Craig House for a baseball stadium. The Craig House is perhaps Richmond’s second oldest structure, and served as an arts center for African-Americans from 1938 until 1942. My cousin and I used to walk there from Van de Vyver School in the 700 block of North 1st Street twice a week to take drawing lessons.

I had no patience for drawing and switched to photography. I created Pine Camp’s photography program in 1978. Out of disgust, I left Pine Camp about two years ago. A person at City Hall told me that art is recreation. Is the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts recreation for the state?  

Not understanding culture is the problem. I could write several books on the city’s leadership throughout my life of 87 years in Richmond.

Only Maggie Walker should be on Broad Street. No distraction.

EARLE P. TAYLOR

Richmond