A 15 year old student says she feels uncomfortable going to Lee Park because of the statue of General Robert Edward Lee and is requesting city council to take it down and rename the park essentially stating that Lee represents slavery, segregation, and white supremacy.

The statue is a memorial to a great American who fought in the Mexican-American War, and was a great military engineer before the Civil War as a member of the U.S. Army and tried to unify the country after the Civil War. Lee was a forward thinker, he tried to heal our country, to bring it back together.

A man who inspired men 150+ years ago and still inspires men and women today when they learn the true and honest facts about the Virginia Gentleman.

The statue does not represent slavery or white supremacy. Lee himself did not stand for those institutions and for the Charlottesville City Council to condemn this man and the statue in the same breath because of erroneous views is wrong.

Lee freed slaves he inherited and did not wish to fight but out of loyalty to his state as was the norm in 1860, he resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and accepted commission in the C.S.A. Army to defend his state, not slave owners.

By tearing this statue down the City council is dividing our nation once again and erasing all the work Lee did 150 years ago to reunite our country after the Civil War.

Keeping the statue is not romanticizing the war, it's paying respect, honoring and remembering the sacrifice the sons of Virginia gave to her.

Save the statue, let Lee stand in Lee Park!!