In a way, it makes perfect sense that Alabama still, embarrassingly, honors Robert E. Lee on the same day it honors Martin Luther King Jr.
Lee was a hateful, mean-spirited man who fought to tear America in two in order to preserve the right to own other humans. He was needlessly aggressive to suit his own ego, a poor tactician, and above all else, bad at math.
Lee was an absolute failure in the end—both as a general and as a human—and a traitor to the country. Whatever military accolades he had achieved by the time he made his decision to lead the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, they were obliterated by his unforgivable decision to fight against his country to preserve slavery, and they were buried by his repeated strategic errors.
Make no mistake, Lee lost the Civil War for the South.
His repeated tactical errors, and his apparent inability to count his troops and troop casualties, are hard to fathom. Even as Gen. George McClellan attempted to hand him victories—or allowed him to skirt what should have been obvious defeats—Lee never seemed to understand the limitations of his army.
Instead, he charged headlong into battles in which he was so overmatched in manpower that even if he won, he lost.
Not to mention, he hoarded supplies, troops and equipment in order to protect his home state of Virginia, instead of allowing resources to be more broadly spread and possibly thinning out the larger northern army.
And he did it all to preserve slavery.
Lee owned 189 slaves, inherited after the death of his mother. The will, which gave him ownership of the slaves, also stated that they were to be freed within five years. Lee went to court in an attempt to have that stipulation overturned and keep the enslaved people longer.
He was denied. In order to get the most work possible out of his slaves in the limited time, Lee implemented harsh working requirements and long days. Several of his slaves attempted to flee because of the impossible working conditions, and they were captured and returned.
When the slaves told Lee that they ran because of his working conditions, he decided to make an example of them. Each man was tied to a post in a barn. They were stripped to the waist and beaten with a whip 50 times each (except for a woman who was beaten only 20 times). Their torn flesh was then washed with brine (salt water).
This is the man splitting an Alabama state holiday with Martin Luther King Jr.
A man that was never an Alabamian. In fact, Lee barely set foot in Alabama. He has no significant connection to the state in any way.
Martin Luther King Jr., however, does have quite an Alabama legacy. Along with a legacy for good.
Not only did he lead the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery when the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights Movement began together, he also led the Selma-to-Montgomery march that resulted in the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. And essentially ended Jim Crow laws in the state and around the South.
He preached love and acceptance. He advocated for nonviolence and helped shine a bright spotlight on the injustices facing Black Americans in the South. He never sought to tear America apart, but instead to make it better, more equitable and more fair.
King rarely failed in his tactical approaches, repeatedly using the hatred and anger of the racists who opposed him against them. They ended up doing much of his work for him.
On this day, when the state of Alabama again chooses to split a state holiday between King and Lee, I thought it was important to remind you of the two men we’re honoring. The character of the two men. The accomplishments of the two men. The failures of the two men.
It seems impossible that good people would look upon the facts of these two men and choose to equally honor them both on this day, or ever entertain the idea of honoring Lee at all.
But then, who said we were talking about good people?
