Virginia’s lone black statewide official sits out Robert E. Lee tribute - Polidicks

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginias-lone-black-statewide-official-sits-out-robert-e-lee-tribute/2019/01/18/7b721ba4-1b4c-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?noredirect=on https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/305WL2sfLMpJPj3RQtrhgRPdoV0=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/PKFK7RQ3I4I6TOHGKZYZBQX5BA.jpg RICHMOND, VA - JAN 18: Virginia Lt Governor Justin Fairfax (D) stepped off the rostrum in the Virginia Senate as a member paid tribute to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee January 18, 2019, in Richmond, Virginia. (Laura Vozzella/TWP) RICHMOND — Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, only the second African American elected to statewide office in Virginia, briefly bowed out of his duties in the state Senate on Friday in protest of a tribute to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Fairfax (D), who normally presides over Richmond’s upper chamber, stepped off the dais and let a Republican wield the gavel while Sen. Richard Stuart (R-King George) marked Lee’s 212th birthday with praise for “a great Virginian and a great American.” “I believe there are certain people in history we should honor that way in the Senate . . . and I don’t believe that he is one of them,” Fairfax, a descendant of slaves, said in an interview afterward. “I think it’s very divisive to do what was done there, particularly in light of the history that we’re now commemorating — 400 years since the first enslaved Africans came to the commonwealth of Virginia. “And to do that in this year in particular was very hurtful to a lot of people,” Fairfax said. “It does not move us forward, it does not bring us together. And so I wanted to do my part to make it clear that I don’t condone it.”

Understandable

Incoming racism and death threats from his constituents in 3...2...1...

Anyone who says "that man fought for your rights!" has no self awareness and I hope no-one does say that.

Nobody in the US government or any state governments have any place paying tribute to treason.

Oh yes, let's celebrate the traitor who was slightly less terrible then the other traitors.

Traitor worship is simply embedded in the culture of the south, which Virginia is part of.

Northern Virginia would like to have a word with you about that

He should do his own tribute to General Sherman.

Sen. Richard Stuart (R-King George) marked Lee’s 212th birthday with praise for “a great Virginian and a great American.” Yes, I'm sure that one of the most major figures in America's civil war where a large portion of the country tried to secede and become its own country was totally a fantastic American...

These fuckers sound nostalgic remembering the good ole' days of plantations and slave owning. The world has changed, you're obsolete. Conform to equality or die in obscurity.

This is why they support Trump. They love liberals suffering so much because they fear being hated and dying loathed.

The irony is Lee opposed confederate monuments and shit because it would prevent the country from healing after the war

Or at least claim you're nostalgic about owning slaves in South Africa, that's what the modern white supremacists are doing since that was less than 150 years ago

Some people are fucking dense.

To be honest, it really wouldn't fucking surprise me if people did say that to him. Look at this clip from LWT showing the most insensitive remark ever rendered to film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbasdFh97tY

No other nation on Earth praises literal traitors as war heroes.

He did it again https://wtop.com/virginia/2019/01/in-protest-virginia-lieutenant-governor-leaves-dais-again/ In protest, Virginia lieutenant governor leaves dais again RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax stopped presiding over the state Senate for the second year in a row in protest when senators again honored a Confederate general. News outlets report Fairfax left the dais Friday just before Republican Sen. Richard Stuart spoke in support of Gen. Robert E. Lee and adjourning Friday’s session in Lee’s honor. Lee’s birthday was Saturday. Fairfax is the second African-American elected to statewide office in Virginia history. The Democrat said Friday he wanted to be firm and respectful in his opposition to honoring Lee, pointing to Confederate efforts to preserve slavery. Stuart said his request had nothing to do with slavery but with celebrating a “great Virginian.” Last year, Fairfax stood down when another senator called for adjournment in honor of Gen. Stonewall Jackson.

The only Confederate general worthy of praise by Virginia is General James Longstreet. Became a Republican after the war (when the GOP was liberal) and openly condemned historical revisionism that the south was fighting for states rights and not slavery. On revisionism he even said, "I never heard of any other cause of the quarrel than slavery."

I'll bet he's the one viewed as a traitor. Y'know, unlike the steely resolve of Robert E. Lee who basically shrugged and said "well Virginia's fighting for slavery so I guess I am, too".

The entire reason he's remembered fondly is because he valued his state's decision to secede then his previous life and career.

That and people who twist his "god will free the slaves eventually" belief into full-blown abolitionism.

Robert E. Lee was arguably a great man in words and personal character, but at the end of the day he waged a war to uphold a slave state. There are no mental gymnastics to get around that, what he did was wrong and the only tradgedy of his predicament was that he didn't join the union cause in the first place; he chose to side with the state where he was born, and not the state that was morally right.

I remember when people wanted to take down Lee statues, the common response was "we're not celebrating him, just remembering him and removing that is removing history". Even if statues themselves weren't a form of glorification, this completely kills that argument. That sounds a lot like celebrating a man who fought and died to oppress and dehumanise his fellow man.