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Live Thought

Keep General Lee's Name on Our Middle School

By Debbie Cross, Jun 12, 2020
 

OPINION — In the wake of all the turmoil going on in our country, be it pandemic, social unrest, rioting, looting, race issues, it’s important that we rise above this. Which I truly believe we will. That’s my hope, my prayer, my goal I work on daily.

Until recently we have just watched horrible things happening to our country, our state and our cities on TV. But now it is trying to affect our city.

I’m talking about the petition proposing a name change to Robert E. Lee Jr High

In a world where we have to sanitize almost everything, let’s not sanitize our history. We learn from history and changing the name will not change that. Robert E. Lee Jr. High was built in 1949 and thousands and thousands of students, faculty and staff have proudly walked the halls and have gone on to live good lives with no adverse effects from sitting in a desk in a school named after a famous Confederate General.

I worked tirelessly in 1999 to put on a wonderful 50th anniversary LJH. I collected so much memorabilia from former students. It made my heart swell that so many kept so much to remember their days at LJH.

Seriously, I was a student at Lee in the late 60’s and early 70’s and was and still am a proud Lee Rebel! Our daughter attended Lee in the late 90’s and we have 2 grandchildren there now. So to say we are proud to be Lee Rebels is an understatement. I know for a fact that our family is not alone in these feelings.

Come on San Angelo we are better than this! We fight for our heritage, our history of our great city. We band together and fight for what’s important. I remember how we fought to keep Goodfellow AFB off the closure list, and we WON!!

I feel if we let this happen it will snow ball and there will be no end. Let us keep San Angelo proud, keep San Angelo a good place to live, learn and grow!

Thank you and May God continue to bless us all

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dea010, Fri, 06/12/2020 - 17:25

You can bet L V (Chiefs) will be next.. Leave the names alone people, don't stoop to that level.

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wDougL, Fri, 06/12/2020 - 18:17

... and if she is the Debbie Cross that I have met several times ... she's a very nice person and came across to me to be very honest, good hearted and intelligent! I attended Edison Jr. High in the late 60's and early 70's! I had friends that attended Lee Jr. High... and even had a girlfriend's from Lee Jr. High! There was never any mention that the students at Lee Jr. High had any problem about the school being named after a Civil war officer. It was just not an issue! I'm sure that the history of the Civil War was studied and learned about in history classes. I'm sure there were students from different races in that Jr. High as was in Edison. Changing to name of a school that's carried the name for over 70 years... is not going to change the way students feel about students of different skin color or race or gender or religious beliefs. We as a Nation of different races, skin color, religious beliefs and cultures ... "Must" come together ... "On Common Ground " ... respect each other, have compassion for one another... and love each other as brothers and sisters... before true change can be achieved!8

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Red Blooded American here born and raised in Texas. Can I write an opinion piece to San Angelo Live about why we should change the name of the school?

Would be nice to have a different opinion so your paper appears even remotely non-biased.

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If we give in and allow the name change, it will simply embolden the radical left to attack any and all traditions in our community. Creating chaos is their intent. It has nothing to do with race

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Treachery and slavery is NOT a heritage. It's unAmerican. No one wants to change history, that's impossible. Just like we can't go back in time, we can't rewrite history, but we can correct the whitewashing of it.

Keep the name, but do not glorify the horrors these dogs committed.

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You're just a chess piece to them, Queen. They'll backstab the black community as soon as the white conservatives are out of their way.

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If we rename the schools let’s go ahead and rename MLK street cause I don’t care for what it stands for let’s change Kentucky “Fried Chicken” let’s rename the Watermelon, quit being babies, let’s all grow up and respect each other for who we are.

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It does not matter how many thousands went to Robert E. Lee. We have to move past tradition, sentimental feelings, southern pride, innate entitlement, and ask if a name is offensive to even a handful of people. The name will probably be changed to a name many don't care for, but it won't remind an entire race of people of their tragic past. It is time to change and move forward for all.

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wDougL, Sun, 06/14/2020 - 11:16

... should be changed because of the "past" history of slavery... check out...
" Snopes: Fact Check ... 9 facts about Slavery they don't want you to know !

History: A circulating list of nine historical facts about Slavery accurately details the participation of Non-Whites in slave ownership and trade!

The first legal Slave owner in America was a Black Tobacco Farmer named Anthony Johnson! ..... now this is your own way of fact checking some of you are using to add to your debate of this issue of History! Obviously... I can't do all the work for those of you that are living in the past and bringing up these things that make you or black people uncomfortable. Read it ... think about it... it's there for you to read using the very resources you are using to argue and try to get everyone... " On YOUR common ground! People of color (non-whites) participated in the Slave trade in history. It's the "Past" meaning... that
"Slavery" was abolished a very long time ago. Why ... oh why ... bring it up " Now " ... a time when we all ... every one in America just wants rasim and hatred to be ... a thing of the "Past" ..... " History " ... " Gone " ... "Abolished "!

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https://youtu.be/HG8Q6F7FY14

https://youtu.be/0j5Ps3J8OAk

"The participants in the Atlantic slave system included Arabs, Berbers, scores of African ethnic groups, Italians, Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, Jews, Germans, Swedes, French, English, Danes, white Americans, Native Americans, and even thousands of New World blacks who had been emancipated or were descended from freed slaves but who then became slaveholding farmers or planters themselves."
- David Brion Davis, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-and-the-african-slave-trade/

"Africa just recorded the highest rate of modern-day enslavement in the world.

"Armed conflict, state-sponsored forced labor, and forced marriages were the main causes behind the estimated 9.2 million Africans who live in servitude without the choice to do so, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index. And despite these practices being widespread, slavery has remained a largely invisible issue, in part, because it disproportionately affects the most marginalized members of society, such as minorities, women, and children."
https://qz.com/africa/1333946/global-slavery-index-africa-has-the-highest-rate-of-modern-day-slavery-in-the-world/

"Slavery may seem like a relic of history. But according to the U.N.’s International Labor Organization (ILO), there are more than three times as many people in forced servitude today as were captured and sold during the 350-year span of the transatlantic slave trade. What the ILO calls 'the new slavery' takes in 25 million people in debt bondage and 15 million in forced marriage. As an illicit industry, it is one of the world’s most lucrative, earning criminal networks $150 billion a year, just behind drug smuggling and weapons trafficking. 'Modern slavery is far and away more profitable now than at any point in human history,' says Siddharth Kara, an economist at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy."
https://time.com/longform/african-slave-trade/

"Throughout Islamic history, slaves served in various social and economic roles, from powerful Emirs to harshly treated workers. Early on in Muslim history they were used in plantation labor similar to that in the Americas, but this was abandoned after harsh treatment led to destructive slave revolts, the most notable being the Zanj Rebellion. Slaves were widely employed in irrigation, mining, pastoralism, but the most common use was as soldiers, guards and domestic workers. Some rulers relied on military and administrative slaves to such a degree that the slaves were sometimes in the position to seize power. Among black slaves, there were roughly two females to every one male."
https://infogalactic.com/info/History_of_slavery_in_the_Muslim_world

"I’m not saying to forget things like slavery, the lynch mobs and the Jim Crow laws (passed by Democrats) ever happened, I’m just asking do the American white people need to be punished for slavery Ad Infinitum?"
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-silence-about-black-slavery-in-the-arab-world/

"The Arab slave trade typically dealt in the sale of castrated male slaves. Black boys between the age of 8 and 12 had their scrotums and penises completely amputated to prevent them from reproducing. About six of every 10 boys bled to death during the procedure, according to some sources, but the high price brought by eunuchs on the market made the practice profitable."
https://atlantablackstar.com/2014/06/02/10-facts-about-the-arab-enslavement-of-black-people-not-taught-in-schools/

"One might think American student activists would be upset about Mauritania, the West African country with the largest population of black slaves in the world – estimates range from 100,000 to more than a half-million. In Mauritania, slaves are used for labor, sex and breeding. The wholly owned property of their masters, they are passed down through generations, given as wedding gifts or exchanged for camels, trucks, guns or money."
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/13067

"On any given day in 2016, an estimated 520,000 men, women, and children were living in modern slavery in the Arab States. This is a prevalence of 3.3 victims per 1,000 persons. When considering the forms of modern slavery, the largest share of those in modern slavery were victims of forced labour (2.2 victims per 1,000 people), while the rate of forced marriage was 1.1 victims per 1,000 people.

"Over half of all victims of forced labour exploitation (51 percent) were held in debt bondage and this affected a greater share of female victims than male victims. The Arab States accounted for one percent of victims of forced sexual exploitation globally.

"Within the region, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen had both the highest prevalence of modern slavery and the highest absolute number of victims, accounting for 76 percent of the victims in the region."
https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/2018/findings/regional-analysis/arab-states/

"A recent African summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, saw one welcome piece of news: the African Union had – for the first time – called on Mauritania to end slavery within its borders. In what was described as a 'landmark ruling', the African Union reprimanded a member state for allowing the widespread practice of hereditary slavery. This is not what is now termed 'modern slavery', but the ancient practice of one person owning another: chattel slavery, as it is known."
https://www.newstatesman.com/world/africa/2018/02/libya-s-slave-markets-are-reminder-exploitation-africans-never-went-away

"More than 40 million people were estimated to be victims of modern slavery in 2016 -- and one in four of those were children."
https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/19/world/global-slavery-estimates-ilo/index.html

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I didn't read the text, and I sure as hell didn't click on the links, but I can tell one thing, you're missing one.

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Any of you comment happy fools ever read the bible?
You should. You would learn that slavery has existed since the beginning of time. We didn’t invent it here in the good ole USA. Prejudice and racism also been around since beginning of time. And it will Never go away. Fact! You can’t legislate or decide a persons thoughts or feelings for them. So the only thing we as individuals can control is our response to these negative actions and beliefs. Look in the mirror. Do I contribute anything to society? Be it raising children that show respect and always try to do the right things or work hard and do everything I can to provide for my family. Or do I blame someone or the government when things don’t go my way? I see many different races and cultures here this great country that have figured out a way to excel. Unfortunately the liberal left has held the black community hostage with talk and promises. The hypocrisy of their propaganda is rearing it’s ugly head. I just hope everyone can now see it for what it is

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Changing the name has nothing to do with who began slavery. It has everything to do with the fact that the slave trade was ending around the world. Lee was one of the treacherous dogs who would try and overthrow the government of the United States of America to try and preserve it. Martians could have begun slavery, still would not have made it right..

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wDougL, Sun, 06/14/2020 - 17:52

... if I'm wrong ... I'm wrong ... but the key words to me is ... "Lee was one the treacherous ones of the treacherous dogs that would TRY and overthrow the Government of the United States of America and TRY to preserve it" (Slavery) ... the key words is TRY TO! He did not succeed now did he ... unless you have some inside information known only to you that he succeeded! The point that I am making is ... everyone that's against keeping the school name ... at least the majority of them ... are bringing up "Slavery" as one of the reasons it should be changed. Lee is no longer with the living... he has no one in this year of 2020 that is trying to succeed at what he was trying to preserve. There is no one that the news media has said that someone is trying to achieve what Lee was trying. So, why ... oh why are so many bringing up what was tried in the far distant past?? Can you give anyone a logical answer to the question I just asked?? What I'm saying is ... let's ALL ... whites and non-whites... get on the same page with this issue! Let's "Change" the way we treat others ... let's come to an agreement that George Floyd was murdered by a Bad corrupt Police officer and include all the senseless murders of Non-whites that have happened. Let's ALL put out our absolute Best to accept each other... no matter the race or color of skin or Religious beliefs. Until we ALL Change our thinking and our hearts... and Respect and love all Human Beings... "True Change" will NOT be achieved! I read an article that the Police officer that murdered George Floyd tried to do a plea deal with the prosecutors! It "Fell Through " No Plea Deal! He will be held accountable for the Murder of George Floyd... but a lot of protesters are saying "Its not enough " that he is going to be tried and most likely convicted of the murder... but it seems that people are wanting immediate justice... they want it now ... in fact ... they wanted it the day the murder was committed! It seems that they wanted a "Public linching" that very day! That's not how the justice system was designed to work. I'm not going to explain what and how our justice system was designed because people should know by now that answer! The senseless violence needs to stop and soon... or even innocent people will be killed... in senseless acts of violence!

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this is absolute horseshit. Through and through. White people were held and sold in slavery for 1000 years in Africa before America existed and yet the black community still feels the need to bitch and complain about COMMERCE that happened long, long before we realized we shouldn't be buying and selling PEOPLE. The fact of the matter is that if America was racist in ANY capacity, systemically that is, the riots/protests would have been shut down the second dissent was detected. The irony of it all is that the prostests themselves prove that zero racism exists in whole from the white community and exists almost entirely among black/brown Americans. Was that the point all along? You know I can compare this the whole "feminists verses the bra" idea. Who is it that hates bras? Women. Who is it that insists women wear bras? Women. Men don't care, and most never thought twice about it. Put your big boy and girl undies on and GROW UP. While I'm putting my 2 cents in, it must be nice to be SO DAMN OPPRESSED FINANCIALLY that yall can afford to take off work to protest, because I'll be a son of a bitch if I have to go to work miserably sick or they'll cut off my power. Section 8 doesn't have that rule though, I guess.

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Turn on the news on any given riot or protest, and witness the new breed of "slaves", worker ants -- the token White trash which has latched onto BLM and ANTIFA, for the coveted "street cred".

I wonder what their revolt against their masters will look like, once they're freed.

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Hey Lil Miss Perfect! IE Rita!! How bout you grow up and allow someone to have an opinion different from your own hypocrisy!! Filling up time lines with your YouTube videos and believe that it’s all factual! Your none stop racist comment day in day out about WHITE PEOPLE every time someone disagrees with you! We should all pay close attention to history, good and bad!! You and a few others on here need to look in your mirror while you go back and look how many times you have called others the racist but your WHITE PEOPLE comment is same as me saying the N word or calling a Mexican a slang word to! So stop trying to hide behind the race card that the world hides behind when someone disagrees with your beliefs! Or don’t get your way!! And before you try slinging it my way!! I have friends I work with and hang out with and check up on and have there back 24/7 of America’s (Mexican, Blacks and Orientals))!! You are not helping nobody using your race card pretty much daily!! We got enough problems without drama Kong’s and queens spreading hatred just because of skin color or opinions!!

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How bout you grow up and allow someone to have an opinion different from your own hypocrisy!! Filling up time lines with your YouTube videos and believe that it’s all factual! Your none stop racist comment day in day out about WHITE PEOPLE every time someone disagrees with you! - Exwildman

I have friends I work with and hang out with and check up on and have there back 24/7 of America’s (Mexican, Blacks and Orientals))!! You are not helping nobody using your race card pretty much daily!! We got enough problems without drama Kong’s and queens spreading hatred just because of skin color or opinions!! - Exwildman

Perhaps I do have some serious self-examination to undergo. I will consider your words.

God bless you, kind sir.

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General Lee was NOT a slave holder. As a matter of fact, his parents owned slaves that he released before the Civil War.

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It is puzzling, why name anything after people? America has so many natural wonders of which would be a better choice for for names. That said we cannot change history but to glorify those who were the villains of attempts to overthrow the US Government is at best pure ignorance. Although we cannot change history we should be able to learn from it.

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wDougL, Wed, 06/24/2020 - 08:05

... and I'm actually happy for you too ... but I didn't say that things in your life were not good... if you go back and "actually" read my comment and opinion of you (since you seem to want to play this discussion like a game... little one) I said my opinion of you is you have the mental range of a windshield wiper and it that I have empathy for you because it must be terrible to go through life with such a short mental range! Also your comment saying "you do you or whatever you think you are "... let me retort... I know what and who I am... which is a Man ... and any approval from you or by you is not needed. Now... let's stop playing this silly game and ... you do ... whatever you do to feel content... and I will do the same.Jeff L ... you have a pleasant day ... and I'm way to old to play any more mind games with someone that has the mental range no wider than the width a windshield wiper! Take care and be careful and good luck to you!

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