Our country experienced yet another tragedy on August 12, 2017. White Supremacists held a "Unite the Right" march in Charlottesville. A group of brave counterprotesters rallied against them. James Fields drove into the group of counterprotesters, wounding at least 34 people and killing Heather Heyer. Heyer was known to be a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised. Unfortunately, our president did not condemn the white supremacists in his first speech in response to the tragedy. It took Two days of public backlash for President Trump to denounce the Neo-Nazis.

We must make a statement against the White Supremacy movement by renaming Robert E. Lee high school. Too many people have fought and died for civil rights. Having the name of a Confederate general on a place of learning is shameful. An attempt to change the name of the school was denied by 5-2 vote by North East Independent School District’s board. The board members who voted for keeping the name cited the fact that the school was named in 1958, and could not condone slavery. “So many of our national leaders have had human frailties and failings,” Secretary Sandy Hughey stated. Fighting for the Confederates cannot simply be chalked up as a failing. Its was hateful and should not be honored by any city establishment.