Robert E. Lee Statue Being Removed From Public Spaces

Today, the city of New Orleans will be removing the public statue of Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Although I grew up admiring the pious, gifted and revered general (being raised in Southern Illinois --which had close ties with Southern States), I agree with the removal. Such memorials to the slavery-condoning Confederate regime should not be in places of honor. In my opinion, they belong in museums that show the entire scope of life in the South of that era. This would include depicting the suffering and dehumanizing conditions of the slave economy.

Lee had many admiral qualities and promoted healing after the Civil War. He was also part of the legacy of the earlier Revolutionary War for Independence from Great Britain as his father "Light Horse" Harry Lee fought brilliant campaigns (although later becoming a dead-beat dad). And Lee married Mary Anna Custis, the grand daughter of George Washington's step grandson and adopted son George Washington Parke Custis. But his defense and support of a brutal regime cannot be swept under the rug, no matter how genteel many aspects of that society might have been.

It needs to be pointed out that, although he inherited a number of slaves (which he had freed before the Emancipation Proclamation), he never personally owned slaves.

I recommend this succinct, well-written biography of Lee by Roy Blunt, Jr. for a good account of the Confederate General's life that neither glorifies nor demonizes the man. A more succinct article for the Smithsonian (also by Mr. Blunt) might be another good source.

In terms of the American vision of democracy outlined in the Constitution that was ratified in 1789, the Civil War was a tragic resolution of the unfinished business of extending freedom and democracy to all people. This business is still unfinished as you might learn from this interview with the director of the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson by Ezra Klein.

The removal of Confederate memorials from places of honor is a good but small step toward coming to terms with injustice in the United States and moving forward to continue making things right.

UPDATE: See/Read the Full Transcript and a portion of a video of the Mayor of New Orleans' speech regarding the removal of the statue of Robert E. Lee and other public Confederacy memorials. 

"Instead of revering a 4-year brief historical aberration that was called the Confederacy we can celebrate all 300 years of our rich, diverse history as a place named New Orleans and set the tone for the next 300 years." - New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu

UPDATE, 6-3-2017 -- Atlantic Monthly Article: The Myth of Kindly General Lee 

UPDATE  08-15-2017 - Check out the quote from Robert E. Lee himself in this twitter post:

if only the ghost of general lee could offer us some advi-- OH DANG pic.twitter.com/TlHIFNGCyG

— ben caldwell (@bencaldwellart) August 15, 2017

UPDATE  8 June 2020 Lee Descendant Speaks Out

“The Civil War was fought for states’ rights.”

"The catch is that there’s more to that sentence, something we southerners are never taught: The Civil War was fought for states’ rights to enslave African people in the United States of America."

Amen.https://t.co/7xNPiHLrXy

— Matthew Spira (@MatthewSpira) June 8, 2020

UPDATE 21 December 2020 :

A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that represented Virginia in the U.S. Capitol has been removed. A commission has recommended replacing Lee's statue with a statue of Barbara Johns, who protested conditions at her all-Black high school. https://t.co/vcndAcjl5y

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 21, 2020

 UPDATE 10 July 2021

 

Spectators by the dozens lined the blocks surrounding the park, and a cheer went up as the statue lifted off the pedestal. https://t.co/haQo7nmJ92

— snopes.com (@snopes) July 10, 2021

 

“In conclusion...” UPDATE 26 October 2021:

The Robert E. Lee statue that sparked the deadly ‘Unite The Right" rally in 2017 has been cut up and melted down by the Charlottesville’s Black history museum. The Washington post spent the day filming and watching workers cut it up and melt it like in the video below.

The… pic.twitter.com/jq25xob6ZH

— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) October 26, 2023

Post Script: A notable assessment of Lee's quality of faith --

Some keep posting about Robert E Lee’s honor and how he was a devout Christian and “man of God.”

Let’s remember what Frederick Douglass said about the Christianity of slaveholders: pic.twitter.com/sdzihoF9q2

— Rev. Benjamin Cremer (@Brcremer) October 29, 2023