Seth Udinski, FISM News
Cancel culture has claimed another figure in American history. On Wednesday, demolition of the massive statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee commenced in downtown Richmond, Virginia.
The statue has towered over the capital of Virginia and former capital of the Confederacy for 130 years. Constructed in 1890, 20 years after Lee’s death, the statue weighed 12 tons and stood at a height of 21 feet atop a massive base. With the base, the statue’s total height neared 60 feet. It depicted the Confederate general riding his horse, Traveler.
Lee was a brilliant American general throughout the antebellum years and was first asked by Abraham Lincoln to command the Union Army at the start of the Civil War. Well-known as a chivilrous gentleman, he respectfully declined. Though he abhored slavery, he said he would not turn against his home state of Virginia. Later, he would become supreme commander of the army of the Confederacy, a position he would hold for the duration of the war.
It is difficult to come to terms with a proper understanding of Lee’s legacy and the rage coming from the left since the death of George Floyd, especially for Christians. On one hand, a legacy of slavery should enrage us. Sadly, General Lee fought for and respresented a nation that was driven by slavery during the Civil War. The Confederacy was built upon and survived for as long as it did largely because of slavery, and Lee’s encouragement of that institution, even indirectly, should be condemned.
On the other hand, the fury unleashed on Lee and others from history is sinister. Instead of rightly teaching history with all its ups and downs, the response from the left has been to “delete” the history of those they hate. Taking that to its logical end, Richmond itself should be razed to the ground, since it served as the capital city of the Confederate States. Even President Joe Biden himself should be “deleted” for past racists comments and pushing racist agendas, including blocking the desegregation of school buses in the late 20th century.
In its last days, the base of the Lee statue stood vandalized with graffiti from rioters, and city officials were forced to enclose it with a wire fence. This is a haunting picture of what can happen to a country when cancel culture runs wild.