“I don’t support racism, and I cringe every time white nationalists and KKK members attach themselves to Robert E. Lee. Those degenerates have transformed him into a symbol of hatred for their cause…”
Monday is Martin Luther King Day. I hope you enjoy your day off and take a moment to consider the progress America has made in its race relations. Blacks are no longer considered three-fifths of a person and no longer have to sit on the back of the bus. We’ve had black secretaries of state, secretaries of defense, a Supreme Court justice, and a black president.
The country has come a long way in fulfilling the dream that King had when he marched on Washington. When I was in college, I walked by the Robert E. Lee chapel in Lexington, Virginia every time I visited the library, so I know the holiday is set on the same day as what used to be Robert E. Lee day. Also called Lee’s Birthday and largely un-observed, it is a public holiday commemorating his birth each year on the third Monday in January.
I don’t support racism, and I cringe every time white nationalists and KKK members attach themselves to Robert E. Lee. Those degenerates have transformed him into a symbol of hatred for their cause and aren’t helping the argument that he is worthy of remembrance.
A careful look at his life suggests that he is far more than a symbol in the culture war between hyper-sensitive progressives and vile racists and that he is worthy of remembering on the same day as King.
Lee was from an important family of patriots in Virginia and is considered a great military commander. His most important actions occurred at the end of and after the Civil War. He rejected suggestions that the Army of Northern Virginia turn into guerrilla warriors.
It’s doubtful this insurgency would have made a huge impact, and Lee likely refused the suggestion because he was somewhat elitist, but it still saved lives and helped end the war. His meeting with Grant to surrender became a symbolic reconciliation between the two sides, with soldiers exchanging friendly greetings and stories.
He then became president of a small school that eventually became Washington and Lee University. He trained young minds, influenced this writer that always walked by his statue, and became an example of how the rebels could peacefully reintegrate into society.
His alma mater at West Point reciprocated the spirit of reconciliation by naming streets after him and other prominent southern graduates.
A careful look at his life suggests that he is far more than a symbol in the culture war between hyper-sensitive progressives and vile racists and that he is worthy of remembering on the same day as King.
In his second inaugural address, President Lincoln said the people must have “malice towards none and charity for all” as they work to heal the country. This wasn’t a popular sentiment back then, but it was the right course and wise counsel in general.
It is the height of irony, then, that the people Lee spent his time trying to kill seemed far more embracing of him and those associated with slavery than modern hyper-partisans living in an era where we celebrate civil rights heroes and elect a black president.
This suggests an extremely unhealthy worldview that seeks ideological purity in anything and everything, at the expense of conciliatory moments from imperfect historical figures. I hope you have a great MLK day, but I also hope you can have “malice towards none” using the historical examples of Lincoln and Lee.
