The application of present-day sensitivities to the complexities of Southern life in the mid-1800s makes it simple for some Americans to view Robert E. Lee as the personification of the evil that was slavery.
Today's critics of the pre-Civil War South are downright certain that, had they been born into those times, they would have still stood strong against the practice of human ownership. While that is undoubtedly true for those whose skin color would have likely placed them in the ranks of slaves back then, it's a harder case to make for Caucasian historical revisionists. For them, the criticism of slavery-supporting mindsets is a contemporary convenience, divorced from the reality that one's expectations and attitudes are shaped by the times in which one matures.
What’s the point?
A fraudulent sign recently demonstrated how racism still lingers. The state should at least split its observances of Robert E. Lee and Martin Luther King Jr.
For some Southerners living in that historic age, slavery was justified on many levels -- economic primarily, but also amid historical attitudes of social order. Some even deluded themselves into believing they were doing their slaves a favor by taking care of them. It is quite presumptuous for 21st century Americans to insist they would have emerged as anti-slavery activists if they had lived during the decades leading to the Civil War.
But none of us live in those times, thank goodness. Attitudes have come a long way for generations of new Americans, including Southerners. We can celebrate the fact most people do not embrace the racist perspectives of our ancestors.
Then something happens that reminds us why we have to say "most people."
Some yahoo thought it would be funny, apparently, to post a notice on the outside of the U.S. Post Office in Springdale on Jan. 16. That was the day Arkansas, according to state law, observes the birthdays of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights crusaders of the 1950s and 1960s, and Robert E. Lee, the U.S. soldier who gave up his military commission to fight in the Civil War for his native Virginia.
What was the notice? With a picture of Lee, it said the Post Office was closed in "rememberance" of Lee's birthday.
The notice wasn't official. It didn't come close to being official. A postal service spokesman said the post office closed Jan. 16 for the federal MLK holiday. The federal government doesn't observe any Robert E. Lee holiday.
But Arkansas still does, as it has for decades. Lawmakers in the 1980s merged it with observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. A realistic look at Lee must acknowledge he represented some honorable qualities, but he turned against his country for what needed to be a lost cause. Still, the sign at the post office was making a point -- a ridiculous, racist point at a public facility that serves all people willing to stand in line. It was a fake, but the hostility it showed was real.
Our communities and state have made great progress on attitudes about race. One would think the journey from the Civil War to Selma to 2017 would have erased our racial tensions. But, though diminished with time, they are still with us.
It doesn't help to have a Robert E. Lee Day on Arkansas' calendar of holidays. Certainly, Arkansans should not be celebrating Lee and King on the same holiday. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has called on the Legislature to separate the holidays permanently.
We hope they do at least that.
Commentary on 01/24/2017