California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) is calling on the San Diego Unified School District to change the name of Robert E. Lee Elementary School because of its namesake’s ties to the Confederacy.
The charge comes after a white man killed nine people in a historic black church in South Carolina last week. The attacker had posted photos with the Confederate battle flag online, which led activists and politicians to call for the flag’s removal from the South Carolina State House grounds. After Republican Gov. Nikki Haley added her support for the flag’s removal, efforts to remove Confederate symbols and names spread elsewhere.
“Recent tragedies have revived the debate over confederate-related symbolism in our country,” Gonzalez wrote to San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. “The flag in particular, and anyone associated with this army, in general, have been associated with intolerance, racism and hate, none of which have a place in our schools.”
“They’re going to a school that really is named after a guy who fought his own country to protect slavery,” Gonzalez wrote.
Breitbart California Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak reported on the rush to blame a myriad of targets for the murders and to indiscriminately ban the flag.
OnTuesday, the Long Beach Press Telegram published an article questioning the name of Robert E. Lee Elementary in Long Beach. The piece called Lee the “country’s most renowned traitor.” The next day, a follow-up piece mentioned Gonzalez’ call for the San Diego school to change its name.
Robert E. Lee was the Confederacy’s most revered general, and left the Union army to fight for the South despite his strong personal opposition to slavery.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDianalag
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