Change Name of Robert E. Lee High School? Patch Readers Respond

A petition on Change.org seeks to change the name of several schools in Fairfax County that bear the names of Confederate leaders, including Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield.

The petition has 845 supporters.

See the 63 comments on the story here.

On Facebook, in addition to receiving 19 “likes,” here’s a look at some of the responses, after it was posted to the Kingstowne Patch Facebook page:

• Jamien: “Oh God, give it a rest!”
• Betsy: “You have to be [semi-expletive deleted] kidding me.”
• James: “This is ridiculous!”
• Nelfred: “I am on the fence with this one.
• Chris: “Good idea. Time to stop revering traitors.”
• Another Chris replied: “So are we going to change schools, towns, counties, and states named after Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin?...because they too were traitors!”
• Gwendolyn: “Robert E. Lee. Why? Who started this?”
• Lydia: “Oh my goodness. What’s next? Change the name of Lee District Rec Center too??? Tear down Stonewall Jackson’s statues at Bull Run and Lexington? Why not go ahead and tear down Monticello, Mt. Vernon and so many other presidential homes that had slaves??? Right?”
• Jamien replied: “Shhh...don’t give these jack asses any more ideas.”
• Kellie: “Figuring out how to give the FCPS teachers a raise is more important than this.”
• Valerie: “This is beyond lunacy.”
• Dave: “How about shut up!” and “How about the White House?”
• Kathy: “This is ridiculous. Next we’ll be rewriting history books so as not to offend.”
• Jamien: “ “History” books are already full of lies. I mean, I actually grew up/was taught that we won and totally dominated the Vietnam war”
• Richard: “So do we change the name of Washington DC? George Washington owned slaves”
• Chester: “ This is getting ridiculous. The battle flag is one thing because of what it was coopted to stand for. But names of people and monuments? Enough. Besides if you want to wipe out anything to do with the civil war then you have to wipe out most names and monuments dealing with slavery.”
• Peter: “I agree, Chester. Removing names is going too far. Lee may have chosen the losing side in the war, but he was a man of honor with many redeeming qualities that made up for his flawed love of his home state on that issue. Where do you draw the line? Do we rename Thomas Jefferson HS because he owned slaves? Kennedy HS because he was unfaithful to his wife?”
• Beth: “Stop!”
• Bonnie: “They just want leave sleeping dogs lay”
• Terry: “Slippery slope....”
• Bob: “Robert E Lee was not a slave owner. Check the history books. Just sayin’”
• Ellen: “Someone has way too much time on their hands!!!!!”
• Wes: “What? George Washington will be next and then Thomas Jefferson too....”

What’s your opinion? Leave a comment in the Comment box below.

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