
The Battle to Rewrite Texas History - benbreen
https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/battle-rewrite-texas-history/
======
heyflyguy
I'm a 7th generation Texan, still live here and was educated in the system. My
dad, my grandfather, uncles all talked alot about Robert E. Lee. "A brilliant
battlefield tactician and leader of the confederate army". It's absolutely
awful why we seceded, I don't agree with it now. Would I have agreed 150 years
ago?

I think it's easy to look back and measure him up as a bad man when you use a
2019 yardstick. Little is mentioned about his post-war efforts to encourage
pacification of white on black violence, encouraging of all African American
kids getting an education, and his denouncement of his own military education.

The history books should be accurate, and accurate all the way around. I ask
you, what is the value of painting him a bad man if you don't also highlight
his own public repentance for so many of those deeds.

My city has renamed several confederate parks, always highlighting that
"Robert E. Lee fought for slavery" and "didn't want blacks to vote". Both are
true statements, but you miss a huge educational opportunity and I believe a
chance to teach a powerful lesson: Apologizing, rebuilding, unity, freedom -
all of these things require an open and honest conversation about what
happened. Lee had extremely complicated views on slavery.

His words: '''In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will
acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral & political evil in
any Country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it
however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my
feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more
strong for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in
Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are
undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will
prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be
necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence.'''

In summary, I don't condone him. I don't think statues are appropriate. But
erasing his full life with his post-war works and efforts is losing an
opportunity to heal.

~~~
trowawee
Actually, a lot of people at the time had issues with slavery! At an absolute
bare minimum, 3.9 million enslaved people in the United States probably had
some strong critiques to level against the existing system of slavery and
Lee's decision to commit treason in defense of that system. Of course, Robert
Lee didn't consider those people to be humans, with full human rights. And
similarly, when you ignore their humanity, and you ignore the historical
record of abolitionists from the United States and all over the rest of the
world, it becomes a lot easier to pretend that anger at the continued
celebration of someone who committed treason in defense of slavery is somehow
based on shifting modern mores.

The post-war stuff isn't being ignored; it just doesn't matter. The value of
"painting him as a bad man" is that _he was a bad man_ , who did horrible
things, for horrible reasons, and people like your family still think he was
actually a great hero. Even in the language you use, you imply that you don't
actually think he was that bad, and you definitely are suggesting that opening
a school later in life somehow mitigates leading the military arm of a
rebellion in defense of slavery. It really, really doesn't!

~~~
heyflyguy
I think you've missed some of my points, but I appreciate your passion.

------
mnm1
I don't understand this obsession with the Confederacy in Texas or in the
south in general. You don't see Germany having "Nazi Soldiers Day" or Hitler
statues. And there's a damn good reason for that. That kind of heritage is
damaging and holds our entire society back. It's one of the many things that
essentially says "slavery was ok and racism definitely still is." It's
frankly, fucking disgusting. What happened should be taught in schools, but it
shouldn't be celebrated with holidays and statues like it's something to be
proud of. It's shameful, disgusting, and ugly and it makes those who celebrate
such things shameful, disgusting, and ugly too.

~~~
shepherdjerred
You're not going to get very far in diplomacy if you don't try to understand
their point of view.

~~~
gameswithgo
I live in the Texas, my mother was born in Texas, my wife is from small town
texas, as are her parents and grandparents. Many people in my family have this
same obsession with the confederacy. I hear them talk about it, I've lived it,
and I do not understand it either. It was a revolution to defend the right to
own slaves (as we stated explicitly at the time:
[https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.htm...](https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.html)
) so that we could do farming. mostly.

its not interesting, its disgusting, I do not see what there is to be proud
of. Smart people try to explain and sound like idiots.

Yes, I'm not a diplomat.

~~~
defertoreptar
I worked with a guy who was very much the type to have a confederate flag and
grew up worshipping the Dukes of Hazzard. I remember when the controversy
started lifting off and they began taking down statues, he was confused and
upset by it. I've seen this guy around all sorts of people, and he's about the
furthest thing from a racist Nazi there is.

I believe the "confederate rebel" idea is a source of pride for some groups
and is ingrained into their culture. Sometimes that may be mixed with
antiquated and racist themes, but they're not always the same thing.

~~~
krapp
>I believe the "confederate rebel" idea is a source of pride for some groups
and is ingrained into their culture. Sometimes that may be mixed with
antiquated and racist themes, but they're not always the same thing.

Yes. They believe the Civil War was really about states' rights and
independence from Federal authority, and that slavery was just an incidental
part of that greater struggle, and that their culture represents the last
strain of "pure" (politically, not racially, but also kind of yes racially)
American culture reflecting the original intent of the founding fathers,
before the Federal government started its slide into totalitarianism.

It's a lie, but like all effective lies, it's half-baked in truth. Yes, the
Civil War was about states' rights... the _right of states to own slaves._
Yes, Southern forces fought, often valiantly, for their independence... _from
anti-slavery laws._ Yes, there were issues other than slavery, specifically,
that caused the South to secede. Every one of those issues inevitably
intersects with the institution of slavery at some point.

The lie is that it's possible to somehow extract Southern culture from its
racist roots, as if slavery and its legacy can just be ignored and set aside
as not really pertinent, when slavery was as foundational to the South and its
culture as anti-Semitism was to the Nazis.

Sure, Hitler designed the VW Beetle and the Nazis built the Autobahn (but not
entirely), but that's no reason to fly the swastika in your window.

~~~
defertoreptar
> The lie is that it's possible to somehow extract Southern culture from its
> racist roots, as if slavery and its legacy can just be ignored and set aside
> as not really pertinent, when slavery was as foundational to the South and
> its culture as anti-Semitism was to the Nazis.

And yet we do not hold cultures of the world accountable to their roots. Many
religions and cultures of today stem from primitive patriarchal beginnings.
And just as many have people within who hold these backwards views (anti
semitic Palestinians, racist rednecks, Post-Apartheid racism, etc.)

As soon as you generalize the people of a culture and make assumptions about
them separate from the non-controversial aspects of the culture, then that is
when you yourself need to question if you're being the prejudiced one.

~~~
krapp
People who believe statues of Confederate generals and the Confederate flag
don't represent the institution of slavery are at best living in a state of
denial, or are at worse trying to whitewash their culture.

And yes, we do often hold cultures of the world accountable for the sins of
their past, because those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
Progress cannot be made otherwise.

