OPINION:
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam held a press conference June 4 in which he spoke about removing the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond. He called the monument “a symbol to shore up the cause of those who didn’t want unity after the Civil War” by those who wanted to “keep the system in place.” Does Mr. Northam not know that it was the militant wing of the Democratic Party at that time — the Ku Klux Klan — that wanted to “keep the system in place?”
Although he was on the wrong side, Lee was a great general, and in fact did not want to be the Confederate commander at first. His house was on a hill in Arlington where he could overlook the city of Washington. After the Civil War, President Lincoln instructed that the Union dead be buried on that hill so Lee would see the soldiers’ graves and be reminded daily of the terrible carnage that had taken place.
History is important because it reminds us of our past, both good and bad, so that we will not repeat our mistakes. We need to be aware of it, not try to obliterate it. In our personal lives, psychologists tell us to deal with painful events, not push them out of our consciousness. In the same way, removing the statue of Lee and trying to erase history is not healthy for us as a nation.
LORRIE GLOEDE
Dover, Del.
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