A descendant of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee told Congress that he supports the country removing statues of his distant uncle and all other Confederate leaders.
Rev. Robert Wright Lee IV testified before the House’s Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands on Tuesday, during which he advocated that all Confederate monuments be removed from federal lands.
“I’m a white dude. I can walk by these statues and not feel a thing, and that’s actually really dangerous in this current climate — that I as a person who can just walk by this statue and not feel a thing, whereas someone who is in my community can walk by on the way to vote and see a Confederate statue and still experience such hatred, and violence, and oppression,” he said.
The Rev. Rob Lee is testifying before Congress during this hour—he asks for your prayers for both him and the Subcommittee dealing with H.R. 970. You can find information and a livestream below: https://t.co/W3GL3Z5AoX
— Rev. Rob Lee (@roblee4) July 21, 2020
Lee said that he chose to testify before Congress as a way to earn “redemption” for his family, adding, “It involved redemption, and reconciliation, and even reparation and acknowledging that for me, this isn’t about me.” He noted that he could not speak for his entire family, but he said that he felt encouraged by the Black Lives Matter movement to speak up about the Confederate monuments.
“I fully believe, along with a host of other amazing citizens of this great country, that black lives matter and for us to continue to celebrate a man who questioned the education, disparaged the right to vote of black life, and had previously fought for the continued enslavement of Africans on the North American continent is an affront to those now suffering under the continued weight of oppression,” he said.
“We cannot remain complicit with these monuments,” he later added. “We cannot remain silent anymore. If we do, our silence becomes agreement and endorsement to complicity. This statue at Antietam that this bill represents, and statues everywhere, must be removed for a more perfect Union — which is inclusive of a better tomorrow.”
Lee warned that those who want to leave the statues up are being “complicit through our nostalgia.”
Other descendants of prominent historical figures have spoken up in the debate about removing statues of their ancestors. A distant grandson of Thomas Jefferson recently advocated for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., to be replaced with a memorial to Harriett Tubman.
Lee previously spoke out against his family’s legacy following the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017. That gathering took place in front of a statue honoring Lee.
