Statue of Robert E Lee That He Never Wanted, Taken Down

Virginia -- September 8, 2021 Statue of Robert E Lee That He Never Wanted, Taken Down

The statue erected in 1890 in Richmond, Virginia, was removed from its pedistal this morning. The Lee statue was a symbol of white power, placed in the city that was the capitol of the Confederacy.

An article on PBS "Robert E. Lee Opposed Confederate Monuments" by Lisa Desjardins explains that Lee never wanted any Confederate monuments.

“It’s often forgotten that Lee himself, after the Civil War, opposed monuments, specifically Confederate war monuments,” said Jonathan Horn, the author of the Lee biography, “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington.”

In his writings, Lee cited multiple reasons for opposing such monuments, questioning the cost of a potential Stonewall Jackson monument, for example. But underlying it all was one rationale: That the war had ended, and the South needed to move on and avoid more upheaval.

“As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated,” Lee wrote of an 1866 proposal, “my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; [and] of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour.”

Read more @ pbs.org "Robert E. Lee Opposed Confederate Monuments

Below is video of the removal of the statue:

wnctimes Marjorie Farrington