White supremacists and counter protesters clash in Charlottesville

[Anomalocaris]

A couple of things.   People generally don't celebrate lee for his condescending attitude towards the negros.   They celebrate him because he is by far the most skillful battlefield tactician ever produced by America (eat that, Patton).    Some people attempt to leverage his military accomplishment to glorify the underlying cause of slavery the confederacy he served.  However, he made clear in numerous private correspondences that he did not care for the cause of slavery, but served instead because he felt America is a Union of states and a citizen's first duty is to his state, not to the union.

He was offered the command of the union army by Lincoln at the beginning of the civil war, and he agonized but decline because he did not wish to fight against Virginia.   Had he accepted the appointment, the gap between his talents and those of the third rate amateurs that actually commanded eastern union armies, as well as those of the 2nd rate commanders of the confederacy during the first 2 years was so great the civil war probably would have ended in 1862.

I have no problem about his statue being erected to celebrate his military achievements. To recognize the achievement of the enemy is a vital step in reconciliation. But I do not care to associate him with the confederate cause.