Letter to the editor

Editor:

To judge, as we now often do, men like Robert E Lee, we must first assume that we are better than him. That by virtue of living 150 years after his death, we are morally superior. That looking back 150 years we have a right to judge his character.

So often i hear Lee lumped in a category of disreputable men, drawing no distinctions, leaving Lee with the label of traitor and dismissed from our history.

To understand Robert E Lee, he truly must be understood in the context of the history and culture in which he lived. It is absolutely essential to have a 19th century understanding of what the word 'honor” meant to people of Lee's era.

Robert E Lee saw slavery as a moral and political evil. He stipulated in his will that all his slaves were to be freed upon his death.

Most of his slaves were owned by his wife. who was the great-granddaughter of George Washington. Lee was in favor of removing former slaves to Liberia if at all possible. He went to great trouble to see that some of his slaves resettled there.

His views on Blacks were not unlike Abraham Lincoln's. He did not see them as equal to whites. He was ignorant not evil.

Robert E Lee was offered command of the Army of the Potomac by President Lincoln. He agonized over his decision but finally had to reject the offer when his home state of Virginia seceded from the Union. He could not take up arms against his family, friends and neighbors.

Lee fought with honor, dignity and integrity through all the years he led the Army of Northern Virginia. Did he make compromises during the war? Of course, he did as every general in every war in our history has done. Had the U.S. lost World War II most of our generals would have been tried and convicted of war crimes.

I am not in favor of seeing our history with summary judgments that deny the humanity of our great leaders in the past. We must acknowledge their faults, hold them accountable but see them as human and flawed not evil and beyond redemption.

What will the future generations of Americans say about us? With the benefit of hindsight? The damage we have done to Mother Earth? The unbridled rapacity of our banks and corporations?T he cruel and inhumane treatment of the animal kingdom? Do these facts make all of us inherently bad? To be dismissed as foolish, ignorant and cruel by our descendants?

There is much to reconcile in our history, and in the end, it is a good thing that we do. Slavery was wrong. As Abraham Lincoln put it: ”If slavery isn't wrong, nothing is wrong.”

Robert E Lee knew this. Were he alive today, I believe he would support Black Lives Matter and be an example to us all. Jim Turner

Fairfield