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Opinion: If there’s anyone from the Confederacy who deserves a memorial, it’s Robert E. Lee

Workers prepare to take down the statue of Confederate Civil War Gen. Robert E. Lee in Lee Circle in New Orleans.
(Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)
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To the editor: So Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the City Council of New Orleans feel that the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was a “public nuisance”? (“New Orleans removes a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from its perch of 133 years,” May 19)

Good thing Landrieu is not mayor of Washington, where the Vietnam Veterans Memorial represents a period of public divisiveness. It has been called the memorial that nobody wanted except the Vietnam vets.

Lee’s personal desire was for the Union to remain intact. Offered a command in the Union Army, he felt his personal allegiance was to his home state,Virginia, and not to the cause of slavery. After the Civil War ended, he called for reconciliation and no continuation of insurgency. Lee’s slaves, whom he inherited from his father-in-law, were emancipated years before the Civil War.

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It is too bad that Lee is now associated with bigotry and white supremacy. That was not what Lee stood for. Removing his statue in New Orleans will not remove his history or the history of the Civil War.

Murray Levine, Encino

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To the editor: Unfortunately, Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser’s statement that “no one believes this will help race relations” is correct in today’s context.

However, by removal of the Confederate monuments and over the next couple of generations, we will finally stop fighting the Civil War. Also, race will merely be a characteristic noted on one’s driver license.

Rich Flynn, Huntington Beach

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