WATCH: Keep The Name

SAN ANGELO, TX — San Angelo ISD leadership weighs its options to change the name of Robert E. Lee Middle School while protesters gathered on Saturday morning on the lawn of the school to argue the Board of Trustees should keep the name. 

The school was opened in 1949, and for the second time since 2017 the school's name faces scrutiny. Watch as members of the protest group give their reasoning to keep the Confederate States Army general's name on the school and what it means to a number of past and present Lee Middle School students. 

 

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It is sad that we are hearing we need to preserve our history and hold on to names and ways that are offensive to others. It is a history of hatred, oppression, and pain. I heard a comment that the protesters support Martin Luther King and his ideas. In the time of the Civil War the political leaders and most people of the south would not have supported MLK. They would have lynched him for his ideas and for his speaking out. It sounds harsh but it is true. This is why the name should be changed. We need to end that era. Put away the honoring of such people with statues and honoring by naming buildings after them. This will be a small step in healing our great country. It will also be a large step toward understanding, and being empathetic to those that have suffered because of the color of their skin.

By the way, there is no reason to take Martin Luther King's name off of a street or a building or to take down a statue of him. Mr. King some hundred years after the Civil War was assassinated. He was killed speaking out for his rights and asking for change that was badly needed.

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Neither for or against the name change. Just CORRECT history. Changing the name will not change history, it's a lie the right-wing uses to justify honoring a back stabber. Confirming that he was a traitor to the United States of America will correct it. Was disappointed that there were not more people there or any confederate flags there.

A plaque with the words"Named after sessionist and traitor Robert E. Lee, General of the treacherous Army of the Confederate States of America. He fought FOR the preservation of slavery".

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It was later in the rally but they couldn't resist letting flag of losers flop in the breeze

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I guess it wasn't news worthy to Live to associate the symbol of treachery with this piece. Can't believe that people actually call it heritage. Can treason be a heritage?

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The myth that Robert E Lee’s name is painful is simply that..a myth created in the mind of people who choose to allow themselves to believe that they are now being affected and tortured by something from the past. If someone is offended by Robert E Lee’s name they need to check themselves into an institution and get some psychological help. Bc a flag or a general Happens to be associated with the south where slavery occurred does not make that person or that flag bad, evil, abusive or oppressive. It is high time that people of color and those liberals who believe the “lie” wake up and face life just like each and every one of us do daily. There is NO excuse for using the past to blame for present grievances or believe you cannot achieve or are being treated less in our present lifetime base on brown or dark skin. Martin Luther King would be appalled at what is going on today. Opposers of a “name” show their lack of maturity their belief in a lie, and their inability to simply appreciate truth, history, or where we came from, where we are going and in many respects were raised to believe they or others are a victim. If we erase all and every history that offends us then we have to erase all history and all people bc all people on this current planet are with fault. No one has a sterling ancestral background, or perfect life. Few inherit easy wealth or health and imperfection, mistakes, lessons learned and sin lies in all of us and in all our history and past. We might as well demand Germany take down their flag bc it offends us that some of them were once nazis. If someone’s relative is a criminal we better erase their last name and give them a new one. If everyone had the victim mentality rt every bad thing that happened to them or their ancestors in life there would be no one who is not a so called “victim”. Slavery was a way of life in a certain era of which was wrong. We grew and learned from it as we have from each era. We did terrible things to the Indians and they to us and yet we are not erasing the american flag. Catholics persecuted protestants and vice versa and we are not destroying our protestant heritage or catholic heritage or shrines et. I’ve never seen the Pagan and horrible places in South America or Mexico where they used to sacrifice children destroyed or taken apart, instead they have become part of history and tourist attractions. Something is truly wrong with today’s culture who cannot stand up proud like men and women thankful for a rich heritage both good and bad and be thankful for where we are today. The hate that is in the hearts of those who want to tear down statues, names, and history is far worse than the people’s names, statues or history they wish to destroy. I say grown up, get a life and be thankful for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. If you are offended by a name please get some counseling. Robert E Lee was a general of the south and there is much more to the story and the man then what some choose to associate him with. There is also more to the history of San Angelo and the earlier people who originally came here and the naming of the school no doubt which most likely had nothing to do with oppression or slavery or any of the other things being used to want to suddenly change the historic name of a middle school. I’ve never seen anything so ridiculous. I’ve never heard people complaining about the African people who sold their fellow Africans as slaves in the first place for profit. I’ve never seen people complain or grieve the tribes of Africa who fought and killed and sold each other. instead it’s all blamed on a “white man” named Robert E Lee and a beautiful flag many take pride in, not bc of slavery but bc of “Dixie” and the “old south” the sunny weather, the trees, the Spanish, moss, the food, the memories and just simply Growing up or being from the south.

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We know that history, it's not whitewashed. We aren't honoring those as heroic, stately, and "misunderstood".

There is nothing offensive about the name Robert E. Lee. What's offensive is that he is honored for fighting to preserve slavery and for his treachery against the United States of America. That, is history being erased.

CGM5, Sun, 08/09/2020 - 18:56
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When and where does the cancellation stop? Does it stop after all confederate statues and symbols are erased? How about the beloved union general George Custer that massacred the American Indian to glorify his own name and help his political ambitions. Shouldn't we remove any and all statues,busts, plaques or mention of his name?
How about President Grant? Yes, Ulysses S Grant commanding general of the Union forces that defeated the evil General Robert E Lee. Grant, was for years a slave owner. Only after financial hardships caused him and family to move to a slave free state did he give up his slaves. No, he did not set them free but, gave them to his father in law (a plantation owner). As commanding general of the Union Army, his family traveled with him from state to state along with a female slave (who they retrieved before starting their travels) who finally after the civil war broke out escaped by running away. Shouldn't we erase this hero of the Civil War also?
When and where do we stop erasing symbols of history? Will it change anything in the present, I doubt it.

wDougL, Sun, 08/09/2020 - 19:27
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... to seek out professional mental help with his or her issues on this rant page. They need to talk to a mental health specialist about how he or she feels that everyone except "he or she" is a racist. Also, he or she needs to disclose how they have their mind made up that ALL Police officers are no good and corrupt and will shoot you on site. He or she is mentally ill it seems.

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Statistics show that the biggest ''threat'' to Black lives are:

A) Abortion. The rates of aborted Black fetuses are five times that for white women, an act which is championed and encouraged by the same political figures who claim to stand in solidarity with them in their time of need, yet do nothing but use them as their personal foot soldiers to further their bullshit agendas. True enough, the Left needs you, Black people, but is ok with culling the herd and always has been.

and

B) Other black people, who kill and assault people of their own race at rates which far exceed those involving perpetrators of other races.

It's the hallmark of a truly ignorant populace who believes statues and pancake syrup bottles are the root of the problem. You could pull down every statue of every dead white guy in the country, scream and holler over Paw Patrol cartoons and Uncle Ben, yet tonight, young Black men will still shoot up the funerals of Black families and indiscriminately kill Black children.

In some circle, those lives still matter, but the Left has got a stronghold on the ignorant majority of inner city Black communities, so much that they've become conditioned to become entirely blind to what's going on around them, and only see what their Marxist masters want them to see.

The chains of slavery remain, Black people, courtesy of your unscrupulous masters of the radical Left. Get up off that "knee", do some self inventory and wake the fuck up.

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There is no ambiguity in fighting FOR the preservation of slavery vs the preservation of the Union. Even Lee spoke about "this enlightened age". The evil of slavery. He chose which side to fight for. Treachery, treachery, treachery.

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