text: discussing Lee needs to be separated from the meaning of monuments to his memory in the South.
  
  If Lee is to be purged from public view due to his racism then Washington's and Jefferson's  even larger racism would preclude their public display as well.....Lee was born into a slave owning family , yet spent his entire life in military service, the great majority in service to the United States rather than the South.  Washington and Jefferson personally owned slaves for their entire lives.  Lincoln offered Lee command of the Army of Virginia prior to Virginia's decision to secede...so Lincoln clearly did not view Lee disparagingly
  
  That does not mean that a monument to Lee shouldn't be removed in New Orleans, where the original purpose was and is likely more to preserve the notion of Southern secessionist pride and racial hierarchy, it simply means that Lee needs to be properly contextualized to avoid today's tendency towards simplistic narrative caricature