hi.

well, i'd like to thank everybody for being here today and especially thank our host, the kappa alpha order, larry weise and your amazing staff jesse k.a. as many of you may know, was founded here in washington. lee and december of 1865, which is the first semester that robert e lee was here as president of what was then washington college and. i'm proud to say that i'm a k, so k a special place to me. for those of you who don't know, robert e lee is known as the spirit, all founder of the kappa alpha order. so is pledges ks are taught to emulate general lee's character, which i think is something everybody should do. the world will be a better if we all emulated general lee's. well, let me let me tell you. prompted me to write this on counsel robert e lee.

it was in response to cancel culture, particularly when that, of all things passed, made its way here to lexington, virginia, to my alma mater washington. and lee, as i mentioned, lee devoted the last five years of his life to washington college. and as president, the school he saved it from insolvency, it was it was down to about three professors and 40 students. and in a very short period of time, lee turned the school around, saved it, and took the enrollment up to 400 students and, built it into one of the top schools in the south. but more importantly, he helped shape the culture of the school, emphasizing the importance of honor and and gentlemanly conduct. but over a relatively short period of time. robert e lee went from being one of the most admired figures in american history to one of the

most despised hatred for lee picked in 2000, picked up steam in 2017 with the charlottesville riots, and then reached a boiling point in the crazy pandemic year of 2020. the aftermath of george floyd's death when angry mobs vandalized statues and condemned lee as a racist a defender of slavery and a traitor lee's name became synonymous with white supremacy and has now been removed from military bases and schools and streets and even the lee chapel, the faculty of dummy. now got swept up in the george floyd's eight guys, then voted over lee to rename washington and lee the board of trustees debated the issue and in 2021 they voted to keep the name but in a conciliatory nod, the increasingly lee faculty and

administration and the board took several steps effectively erased lee from the campus. they renamed lee chapel university chapel. they removed portraits of george washington and robert e lee that had hung in the chapel over a century. they historic plaques of lee, not just from the chapel, from all over campus. they even built a wall to hide the recumbent statue at the back of the chapel. they literally whitewashed the place and they canceled founder's day, which for decade had had celebrated. our founders washington and robert e lee, and they removed images of george washington and robert lee from diplomas. and then finally, adding insult to injury, they removed plaques marking the stall and the final resting place of. lee's beloved horse traveler. those have since been replaced, thanks in part to pressure alumni brought to bear.

so lee was effectively canceled by the university that he saved the faculty, the administration, the board they acted as if they were embarrassed by or ashamed of their affiliation with lee. i've never felt the need. apologize for lee, but i do recognize a very real need need given the gross misrepresentations about lee, a very real need. explain lee to tell story, to tell the truth about lee i've read countless biographies of lee and i'm very well acquainted with his with views. and i know that the truth is often completely at odds with the popular narrative of him. the truth is that lee, opposed to slavery, he called slavery immoral and political evil. and after war he said that he was rejoiced that slavery had been abolished. the truth is that lee was opposed to secession before the

war. he warned the calamitous consequences of secession, and he held out hope to the very end that the union could be preserved. so the truth that even though lee was opposed to virginia, he believed it was his duty to defend his home state. he was not motivated, defend slavery. and then finally, the truth is that after the war, lee was a leading voice for reconciliation. he worked tirelessly to restore peace and harmony between the north and the south. and even though he lost everything in the war. he was not embittered. he suffering with dignity and grace those are the basic facts, the truth about. but work are rewriting our past. they're weaponizing history for political purposes, tearing our country apart along the marxist lines of oppressed and oppressor

oppressor. lee has been viciously and unfairly attacked to the point where now he's been almost totally erased, not just here, but throughout the country. erasing history, though, is very un-american. but his standard procedure for radical leftist from the jacobins in the french revolution to lenin and mao in the 20th century, radicals always to erase past and their endless quest, to fundamentally transform. chairman mao, the cultural revolution in the great leap forward, attacking the faults of old customs, old culture, old habits and, old ideas, tens of millions of chinese perished along the way in the soviet union. they rewrote their history so often. it became a standing joke. they said the only thing that certain is the future. it's the past that keeps on changing. so history matters because it largely defines our culture. it tells us who we are, where we

came, how we got here, and more importantly, what were the what were the beliefs, the values that inspired and and sustained ancestors on their journeys? because it's those values, that same values today that inspire and guide us on our own journeys into the future. so when the radicals erase history really trying to erase and cancel our values, particularly religious values. that's why george orwell said who controls the past, controls the future, and america's past is and greatly diminished without robert e lee, because lee was the greatest example of, noble character and virtue in american history. he was the perfect balance of the softer character traits kindness, humility and and the more manly virtues of courage and strength and honor.

lee was the man that every southern male aspired be. he was the son that every southern mother hoped to raise. he was really the embodiment of virtue. so why should care about that? we should care because character matters and america needs character. now more than ever. anyone who studied going all the way back to the ancient greeks and plato knows that a democratic republic cannot survive without virtue, our founding fathers knew this well. in fact, benjamin franklin said only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. we see what happens when unscrupulous people people without virtue take power and they ignore the constitution or they ignore laws they don't like, or they censor speech they don't like, or they abuse the system to target people they like. they generally trample civil liberties. that's why virtue is essential

to preservation of freedom in america. but cancel culture is now trying to erase the greatest example of virtue in the form of robert e lee. let me just say a few words about. cancel culture, cancel is all about tearing things down. it's inherently destructive. it builds nothing. it creates nothing. it only destroys it's like the vandals who destroyed rome. cancel culture is destroying american culture systematically, targeting and eliminating our heroes. it is fueled by anger then bitterness and, envy and vindictiveness. it rejects the western christian notions of grace, forgiveness and reconciliation in its place it gives us violence, terror, intimate nation and retribution. cancel culture follows saul alinsky infamous rules. radicals, particularly rule to pick the target, freeze it,

personalize it, and polarize it. those tactics are now in modern political discourse. so the canceling robert e lee is a classic of the radical assault on america's heroes. lee was widely hailed as one of america's greatest examples noble character. as recently as 20 or 30 years ago. he was exalted for his virtue, his devotion to duty, his sense of honor, his christian faith, and his flawless, gentlemanly conduct. then the came for him. they lee as their target, using alinsky tactics. they frozen, they personalized him and, they polarized him. but this destructive wave of cancel it only creates a void it leaves an emptiness, absence of noble heroes for our children and our grandchildren to emulate who or what does cancel culture

propose to fill that void. i have a chapter in my book entitled radical history the quiet revolution of modern historians. academia is now overwhelmed only left leaning and sometimes even marxist and their ideology and if you think i'm being hyperbolic this in 2000 the national association of scholars reported that democrat professors outnumbered, outnumbered professors by a ratio of roughly 9 to 1 on top us campuses, female professors outnumbered their female professors identifying as democrats outnumbered their republican counterparts by 16 to 1. at cornell, the college fix reported a couple of years ago that democrat professors outnumbered. republicans 98 to 1. the history department are dominated by instructors who embrace howard zinn's book a people's history of the united states, which was in 1980.

howard was a well-known marx who said that, and i quote, history is a weapon. and dedicated his life to rewriting history to oust our heroes. their pedestals. zinn's work was notoriously and biased. he viewed history as a quiet revolution. and he said, and i quote, not a revolution in the classical of a seizure of power, but rather from people beginning to take power from within the institutions, end quote. so we saw to replace historical facts with ideology and propaganda, to stir up enough anger to spur a communist revolution and overthrow the american. let's take a moment and step and look at who robert lee was as a man. he was born into two of the most distinguished families in virginia. the lees, the carters. his father was, henry light horse, harry lee, who was a revolutionary war hero.

light horse. harry served under george washington. in fact, it was light horse harry who famously washington as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen and his mother was and carter, she was the daughter of one of the largest landowners in virginia but due to light horse harry's misadventures the family it ran into hard times when robert e lee was only years old. his his father was sent to prison. and when robert e lee was six. his father left home for the last time and died abroad. so at a very young age. robert. robert was raised mostly by a single mother. her health was rapidly declining. he became her primary caregiver, the young man of the house, when he was only years old. so his mother had a profound impact on him, given light

horse. harry's shortcomings. she into young robert the importance of self-control, self-denial, frugality and honor. she couldn't afford to send him to college, so he applied to west and when he left home in 1825, his mother dreaded is leaving. she said, how can i live, robert? he's been both son and a daughter to me. so he went on to graduate in his class at west point and he completed years without a single demerit, which is an almost impossible thing to do. he became known as the marble model for his good looks, his good grades, and his perfect gentlemanly before the war, lee spent roughly 30 years in the us army, most of that time in the corps of engineers. he did spend two notable years in the mexican american war, mostly working on the staff of general winfield scott. lee impressed got to the point that scott basically. lee in fact, scott winfield

scott called lee the very best soldier i ever saw in the field after the mexican war, lee served as superintendent west point. it was a position he did not want. he tried to get out of it, but it was one that prepared him well for his future here at washington. lee and then in the 1850s, lee left the corps of engineers to join the newly formed second cavalry in texas. he was in texas, in fact when the lone star state seceded february of 1861. that's when lee was called back to washington. so by the time the war started, lee had experience as an engineer, a combat veteran and educator, and administrator, and a cavalry commander. no one was better prepared for what was to come than robert e lee? you can't about the civil war without addressing, as i mentioned earlier, lee was opposed to slavery. it a moral and political evil. the fact is that no matter what

the critics say, lee did not fight to slavery after war. he was deeply saddened and indignant that no other newspapers claimed that he fought to defend slavery. he vehemently denied it, saying, i quote, so far from being from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, i am rejoiced. slavery is abolished. i believe it will be greatly for the interest the south so fully i satisfied of this that i would cheerfully have lost all that i lost by the war and have suffered all i have suffered. to have this object, obtained and lee was opposed to secession before the war. he warned of its dire consequences in a letter to his son in january of 1861, lee wrote, i can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution. the union i'm willing to, sacrifice everything but for its preservation. secession is nothing but

revolution. still a union that can only be maintained by and bayonets has no charm me if the union dissolved, i shall return to my native and share the miseries of my people and save in defense will draw up my sword on none so was distraught over the dissolution of the union. but he said he had always been taught that his first allegiance was to his mother's state and he held out hope that some agreement would be reached to avert the civil war. but everything changed in april of 61, when lincoln plans to raise an army of 75,000 soldiers to invade the south and put down the rebellion. lincoln offered lee command of that army, which would be the largest ever assembled in north america, and lee politely declined, saying he could not take part in. an invasion of his home state and that if he owned all the slaves in the south, he would gladly give up each and every one of them to save the union.

so six of the book addresses the demonizing of confederates, why people fought and what really triggered the war. and this is important because it addresses the charge that lee fought to defend slavery. popular opinion of is now at an all time low and lee as the highest ranking soldier in the confederacy he is a favorite target of them. the civil war is gross lee oversimplified. the north is good, the south is bad. of course it was all about slavery and you know the bad guys were the southern racists who fought to defend slavery. that's the oversimplified view. most modern intellectuals conflate states rights with slavery and race ism, ignoring the litany of abuses perpetuated by the federal government. they constantly reference the civil war and the jim crow south as a cudgel to discredit and

delegitimize states rights. the leftists always prefer centralized power, but did the really fight to defend slavery, according to the famous black historian john hope franklin, 95% of southern soldiers were not slave owners. many were motivated to fight, for reasons other than slavery. most fought to defend their homeland from invasion. others fought for self-government for the notion that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governor, the government. and why did most northerners fight? do they really sign up to liberate the slaves, or were they more motivated, preserve the union the civil war was, a tragedy and it could have been avoided. no other nation on the planet fought a war to end slavery. slavery could have been eliminated. there were hotheads, both sides, rabid republican abolitionists in the north and fire breathing, pro-slavery voices in the

cotton's states. most people were the middle and robert e lee was one of those people. and he condemned the hotheads on both sides. so claiming that the war was fought that lee fought to defend slavery, that the war was fought solely end. slavery is simply ignoring the facts and lincoln's enoggera address. he claimed that he had no intention to end slavery. in fact, lincoln admitted that he didn't have the authority to end slavery even if he wanted to. but this is important. he did say that he would military force against any state that to collect federal tariffs and federal tariffs made up 90% of the federal income of the federal at that time. this is before income tax so that might explain why lincoln refused to abandon fort sumter, even though winfield's god, his top military commander, advised him to do that. so the southern states announced

plans to eliminate tariffs, which would have massive amounts of trade from the northern port ports. and that was a real existential threat to both the northern economy and to the federal government. so the tariff issue was, a much more direct and immediate cause of the war than slavery, was. and it's interesting, about six months into war, lincoln wrote a public letter to horace greeley of new york tribune. this is in august of 1862, just one month before the emancipation. and in that letter said that he could tolerate slavery if the union were preserved. lincoln wrote, and i quote, my paramount object in this struggle is to save the. it is not either to save or destroy slavery. if i could save the union freeing any slave i would do it. and if i could save it by, freeing some and leaving others alone, i would also do that. what do about slavery and the colored?

i do because i it helps to save the union and quote so lincoln's goal from start was to preserve the union the emancipation proclamation didn't didn't come until about a year and a half into the war. but it was a brilliant political move because. it allowed lincoln and the north claim the moral high ground and to label southerners as defenders of slavery forever. as the war went on, many southerners were also motivated to resist lincoln's consolidate of tyrannical power in the federal government. lincoln suspended habeas corpus in april of 1861 to silence opposition to his war plans. the chief of the supreme court at the time, taney, issued an that lincoln did not have the authority to suspend habeas corpus, arguing that habeas corpus is addressed in article one of the constitu option, which is the section addressing the legislative, not the

executive. but lincoln ignored the supreme and he proceeded to round an estimated 13,000 citizens who expressed war views or who favored the southern states to secede peacefully. and lincoln kept his opponents prison. many confined without charges and without the promise of fair and speedy trial. so some defend lincoln's that desperate times call for desperate or that his vision, a strong centralized government was. good. we can debate that, but there's no debate that lincoln exercised almost dictatorial and his central authority came at the expense of the states. interestingly, the war robert e lee was amazed prophetic in about the concentration of power in washington. he wrote a letter lord acton, after the war in which he said the the consolidation of the

states one vast republic. sure to be aggressive abroad. and despite at home will be the certain precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it. was lee a traitor? if so, why was he never prosecuted for treason? in fact, why were no confederates, not even jefferson davis, ever tried for treason? was secession legal? the constitution, silent on the rights the states to secede. but like lee, believe that when their states seceded, the state them along with it, and that they owed their loyalty to their states, not to the united states. and if the states had the right to secede, then lee other confederates were not traitors. they were like their american revolutionary heroes fighting for the independence, their states, the legal party of secession was not resolved in

court. it was settled solely by the might of the united states army. so lee was indicted treason. but he was never put on trial. likewise with jefferson davis, who spent two years in prison after war, the federal government dropped the charges because they knew they could never get a jury. in richmond, virginia, to convict jefferson davis treason. if davis had been exonerated in court was highly likely it would have nullified the united states government's for waging war against the south. so lee devoted last five years of his life to educating the young men of the south. here, his president of washington college. he was an educational innovator. he revamped the schools curriculum, adding classes and modern language journalism, engineering, science, business and law. he inspired the student run honor code, and when he was asked by students what the rules

were, he said, young gentlemen, we have but one rule here, and that is that every student must be a gentleman. he turned down offers for far more lucrative, and he responded to one such offer, saying, i'm grateful for the offer, but i have a self-imposed task which i must accomplish. i've led the young men of the battle of the south in battle. i've seen many of them die on the field i shall devote my remaining energies training young men to do their duty in life. after the war, lee was the leading for reconciliation, calling for peace and harmony. our war torn country. as always, he led by example, taking the oath to to the united states and applying to have his citizenship restored. he encouraged, his fellow southerners and confederate veterans to do the same. he never allowed anyone to speak ill of general grant and presence. and he southerners to bury the hatchet, obey the law, reject

bitterness, and raise their children to be americans. and finally, i addressed the the so-called lost cause movement that sought to justify the confederacy. and many claim was used to perpetuate racial apartheid in the jim crow south. the lynchings, the kkk segregation, the racism, the jim crow south, all of that happened decades after lee died. and lee had absolutely nothing to do with any of that. as someone who has studied lee exhaustively, i can say with absolute certainty that lee would have rejected white's and he can't be blamed. things that happened so many years after he died. his final years at washington college were arguably his finest, although he had lost everything and suffered immeasurably. he was not embittered. he carried on with dignity and grace and he often quoted the stoic roman emperor, marcus

aurelius, as meditation misfortune, nobly borne, is good fortune. he bore his misfortune with remarkable nobility. and his good fortune is that today we continue to celebrate his enduring legacy. so let me wrap up by saying lee has been unfairly canceled in recent years, but i'm confident that the truth will ultimate prevail and that his legacy continue to endure. and my hope is that his example, honor and character can and will be resurrected, inspire future generations. the same. it's inspired me. so thank you all for being here today. and we have time for questions and answers if anyone questions. jesse, i've got one year.

you mentioned rick conciliation, postwar. how did lee how did lee lead that charge and how is he an example of reconciling the country? post-soviet war? well, you know, i would actually by saying that lee began the process of reconciliation, even before he surrendered it. apa. there were there were several of the top commanders of the confederacy were encouraging him to engage in a guerrilla war and lee shut down and said, no, you know it. the the the guerrilla war only lead to the continuance of suffering and make things worse. and, and he said, you know, that is much is others may want to continue the struggle he said as for me you know i'm going to do to do what's right and bring it to a conclusion. so he did but, you know, after the war, he continued to to

reach out to. a lot of people who wrote him saying, what should we do? and he urged them to take the oath to the united states, reapply for citizenship, obey the laws. some people were, you know, asking if they should leave the country a, lot of them did leave the country. but lee said, no, we have a duty to rebuild the south. you should stay here. and as i mentioned, never allowed anyone to speak. ill of general grant his presence and he worked hard to kind of allay the of the day but yes you know thanks so much for your work there's no question that it's an important work and lately i've become familiar with some folks in this room that are doing some great work to, you know, channels reach out and

cameron's great work there. i think what you're doing is not just important but incredibly valuable. and if i might, i'd like to like to an observation and then i'll ask my i think what you're doing is what thomas paine envisioned when said it is never to be expected in a revolution, in that every man is to change his opinion at the same moment. there never yet was any truth principle so irresistibly obvious that all men believed it at once time and reason must cooperate with each to the final establishment of, any principle, and therefore those who may have happened to be first convinced, have not a right to persecute others on whom conviction operates more slowly. and then he seals it with this, this punctuation sentence. the moral principle of revolution is instruct not to.

you are leading a revolution and apply. you and i will support you and i'm going to buy your book. now, here's my question. realistically, you've got, i'm sure, short term and long term goals and aspiration actions and visions of where this can go. can you summarize quickly what maybe you're short term picture and long term, for example, do you think we'll ever see lee chapel named lee chapel again? that's the goal. the goal? yeah, sure. short term, long term. you know, the immediate goal is to have robert e lee to see robert de lee restored to his rightful place of honor on the campus of dublin. he's taking lee chapel. to the status quo ante, what it was before and we hope that could happen and will continue

to. inform the alumni of what's going on campus and to push back on some of the decisions that have been made. a lot of the decisions that have been made have been really, i believe, people kind of following the mob and, you know, where the mob in 2020 and it was essentially kind of mob justice tearing down the statues and it was a case of emotion and ignorance overcoming facts and reason. and so now the hopefully have subsided to the point we can discuss the facts and discuss it reasonably. and you know george washington and robert e lee should be viewed as incredible assets to the university. but certain people among the leadership view them as liabilities. and so they've got a completely

so, you know, sometimes, you know, it just takes a little bit of time and hopefully enough time has gone by now that people can reconsider of these decisions that were made in the heat of the moment and maybe against their better judgment. yes. so you mentioned a lot of wrong assumptions and maybe mob generalization, tions. and during your speech you were talking about lee's views against slavery and one accusation and that he fronted with as know he owned slaves. that's what people like to say and assume so. how do you answer to that? how do you answer to the fact that he was against slavery but then his life had personal associations with the institution slavery. it is true that that lee and his

siblings did inherit some slaves his mother. and i think at least one of them may have been a of a personal servant of lee's for some period of time, but he was mostly on duty and really had nothing to do with with that. and it was his in law's slaves at arlington when you know his, father father in law was george washington custis who built arlington mansion, which now arlington national cemetery. and when he died he had 196 or 198 slaves, and he named lee as the executor of his estate. and in his will, he said that he wanted all of the slaves to be. emancipated within five years, but on his deathbed, he had told some of the slaves that they would be free as soon as he died. and so a lot of those were upset when lee, as the executor said,

no, we're, you know, according to the terms of the will, we cannot liberate you until we paid off all the debts of the estate. and so he's criticized that. and, you know, it's easy for us across the wide divide of time to to criticize people for, decisions they made 150 or 60 years ago. there's no question that lee spoke out in opposition to slavery. the question is, could he have done more and, you know, he never sought to slaves, but he was put into the uncomfortable of being the executive of his father in law's estate. and he did his best to to liberate them. in fact, he did fulfill the obligations of that of his father in law as well, and emancipated all of them within the prescribed time.

but some people criticize for not accomplishing that sooner. kevin so a lot of people see lee as the face of the confederacy, and i think you're definitely focuses on lee and trying to redeem him. but lee's one of many confederate who have sort of had to resist this storm of removal. some notable lee the military bases. i think there's around ten confederate army military bases that were all renamed by the federal and so do have a different angle when it comes to these individual roles. as lee, you got a unique case to continue to honor and preserve his name or do we still want to keep bedford forrest on you know installation of a military base or, a statue and well, i think that brings up a good point that the tendency in years has been to paint all confederate with a broad brush and to condemn them all and they've all been

demonized. i think it's interesting that, after the war, the veterans himself, the north and south, did a much better job of reconciling that of us today. 160 years later, that we seem to be, you know really old wounds that should have a long time ago. but definitely you as as the saying goes are good and bad people on both sides. you know, neither side have a monopoly on virtue. you know, one side likes to claim the monopoly on virtue, but, you know, the fact of the matter is that there were good people and and people who had noble motivations, you know, for fighting to defending their homeland and so i think they need to be everyone needs to be judged individually and not as a part of a group.

you know, rodney king, you spoke on campus a couple of years ago, drew comparisons between lee and and martin luther king jr peacemakers. they were they were attempting to bring people and you i think he quoted the passage of the scripture blessed are the are the peacemakers. and the point he made was that after the after the war, lee did everything he could bring people together to stamp down the hatred, the animosity, the bitterness, and martin luther thing. he said, you know, it was the quote, darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. and that's true. and so i think it's interesting that some people think that you can only admire lee or martin

luther king and they're not mutually exclusive. you could admire both of them. and i think most people do. but most people who know the truth about lee, at least you i think a lot of what the generals tries to do is to inform alumni and parents. i mean, number one, inform them about what's going on. and number two, hopefully, to to build bridges to the board and to the students and and the faculty and, increase the improve the dialog. because for long time, there was only one point of view that was really being advanced on campus and no one likes stepping into the arena and getting involved in controversy it's no fun and we've all taken the arrows, but we believe it's something that needs to be done. and i think we are making you see there have been some of the

small that we've seen on campus recently too that give us hope that things are beginning to turn around. but we have a long ways to go. all right. we have time for one more question and any more questions or is that it? all right. well, thank you all for being i really appreciate it. and and thanks our crew. is it steve and. thank you guys very much. you're going to every.

good evening, everyone. my name's colin robinson and am the