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The Trump administration’s soft spot for the Confederacy
While I appreciate that Robert E. Lee embodied many of the better aspects of the southern gentleman and accrued some good deeds during his lifetime, slavery and the Civil War is where we part company. Unlike Trump and Gen. Kelly, I don't subscribe to the notion that enslaving people and treating them with equal measures of contempt and cruelty is a positive and noble endeavor. Nor do I subscribe to the notion that succession could have been acceptable to honorable patriots. No matter how much faux lipstick Kelly applies to this dark era of US history, the Civil War devastated American families and tore this great nation asunder. Rather than being an honorable exemplar of Americana, Lee willingly chose national division over unity, fought for racial subservience over universal freedom, and embraced a white supremacist state culture over the federal union. With all due respect Gen. Kelly, I can neither welcome nor endorse what you're peddling here.
By Eugene Scott October 31
White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly
The Trump administration appears to have soft spot for the Confederacy. (White House Chief of Staff John) Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, seemed to imply that the conversation is settled and that Lee's legacy is a positive one. “I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man,” Kelly told Fox News' Laura Ingraham. “He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.” “I think we make a mistake, though, and as a society and certainly as, as individuals, when we take what is today accepted as right and wrong and go back 100, 200, 300 years or more and say what those, you know, what Christopher Columbus did was wrong,” he said. “You know, 500 years later, it’s inconceivable to me that you would take what we think now and apply it back then.” As some Americans, including descendants of those who fought for the Confederacy, seek to preserve the legacies of their ancestors, they rationalize the decision to fight to preserve an institution that treated black people as subhuman. But pushback to Kelly isn't solely — or even primarily — rooted in politics.
The concern with Kelly's statement is how historically inaccurate it is. One person pushing back on the legacy of the Confederacy is the Rev. Rob E. Lee, who is an indirect descendant of the Confederate general and an anti-racism activist. “It is clear to me that General Kelly sees honor in a man who fought for continued enslavement of people and chattel slavery,” Lee told the Fix. “That is, after all, what states’ rights was for. There is no honor in that to me. John Kelly would be best to keep our president from tweeting and enacting racist policies, rather than engaging in a debate over the racist past of the South.” Kelly's “both sides” equivocation is a familiar argument in the administration. Trump blamed both sides — white supremacists and anti-racism protesters — for the violence in Charlottesville. “I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it,” Trump said days after the riots. Kelly's most recent comments are a reminder that the debate over America's enslavement of black people continues in both the church and the top levels of governments. When John Kelly was brought into the White House, many Americans suspected that he would unite a team reportedly divided by tribalism and differing worldviews. Instead, some are now accusing Kelly of exacerbating the divisions existing across America — starting in the White House.
While I appreciate that Robert E. Lee embodied many of the better aspects of the southern gentleman and accrued some good deeds during his lifetime, slavery and the Civil War is where we part company. Unlike Trump and Gen. Kelly, I don't subscribe to the notion that enslaving people and treating them with equal measures of contempt and cruelty is a positive and noble endeavor. Nor do I subscribe to the notion that succession could have been acceptable to honorable patriots. No matter how much faux lipstick Kelly applies to this dark era of US history, the Civil War devastated American families and tore this great nation asunder. Rather than being an honorable exemplar of Americana, Lee willingly chose national division over unity, fought for racial subservience over universal freedom, and embraced a white supremacist state culture over the federal union. With all due respect Gen. Kelly, I can neither welcome nor endorse what you're peddling here.
