The Rev. Robert Lee IV, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s great-great-great nephew, spoke in support of removing Confederate monuments including statues of his namesake during an interview Tuesday.
“I see them as idolatries,” Mr. Lee, a Christian pastor, told ABC News. “They have been created into idols of white supremacy and racism, which for many was their original intent based on how they were put up.
“So, for me, this is a no-brainer,” he continued. “This is an issue of justice and of peace. If we want peace in our time and the ability to seek equality and equity for one another, then we must do that by addressing the monuments, not only in stone and in bronze, but elsewhere as well. This is the first domino of many dominoes to fall that can really shape the way we view our future”
Mr. Lee discussed his ancestor the same day Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, signed legislation officially removing the Confederate battle emblem from the state’s flag.
“I didn’t see this happening in my lifetime. This is an incredible opportunity to seek justice, to try and right the wrongs of the past by seeking redemption and atonement for all of these things that have been wrong,” he said about the emblem’s removal.
“I grew up with the Confederate flag in my bedroom as something that I celebrated — the fact that I was related to the man who was the standard-bearer for that flag,” Mr. Lee added. “But as I’ve grown, I’ve learned that there is an importance to address what’s going on now and to see it for what it is — and that is that white supremacy and racism have been the basis for the celebration of that flag for a long time.”
Efforts to remove monuments to racists such as Lee, who led the Confederate Army during the Civil War, have intensified in the weeks following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in police custody on May 25.
President Trump, who previously praised Lee as a “great general,” said Wednesday that he will veto an annual military spending bill if it includes a proposed amendment that would lead to the renaming of military bases currently named for Confederate leaders including Lee.
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