Online Public Relations Thoughts

Richmond, VA has removed its 12-ton statue of Robert E. Lee from Monument Avenue.  It was 130 years late.  The bronze never should have been erected in the first place.  The memorial was a communication about the lost cause of the Civil War and end of slavery.  When it was erected, segregation was at white heat and Virginians were acting as if they had won the war.  The Ku Klux Klan was in force: Lynchings were common. Reconstruction had ended and carpet baggers expelled.  Whites were nursing deep grudges against the North and hatred for Black Americans.  Robert E. Lee was a symbol of the survival of the Old South in spite of the catastrophe and a dream of what might have been.  Now it is in storage.  Reality has finally intruded on the psyche of Southerners.  It is a reminder of how deeply held beliefs can pass down from generation to generation before there is a change in heart.