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Line 51: − + − − Robert E. Lee High School in Baton Rouge was also renamed Lee High School. Then on June 18, 2020, the politically correct East Baton Rouge Parish School Board appointed a committee to develop an alternative name for Lee High School. Connie Bernard, a Republican member of the school board for District 8, at first defended the name of General Lee and urged his critics to study the totality of Lee's career. However, Bernard quickly reversed course and pledged to work for racial reconciliation: “I condemn racial injustice in any form. I promise to be part of the solution and to listen to the concerns of all members of our community. I stand with you, in love and respect. … I agree with (New Orleans Saints football player) Drew Brees when he said, ‘We have a long way to go…. We can do better. We are all part of the solution.’ I promise I will be part of the solution.”<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_50df7e4c-b27f-11ea-b969-5b0376f4116f.html|title=Baton Rouge school board member apologizes for comments defending General Robert E. Lee|author=Charles Lussier|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=June 19, 2020|accessdate=June 20, 2020}}</ref> +
→Running afoul of political correctness
Middleton's heirs, presumably grandchildren and great-grandchildren, asked to address the LSU supervisors to defend the general from the attacks against his legacy that occurred in the wake of the [[George Floyd]] shooting death in [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]].<ref name=namechange>{{cite web|url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_3ac98036-ace3-11ea-908e-7b1c6853d1b3.html|title=Middleton family asks to speak before LSU board about library name change|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate|date=June 12, 2020|author=Emma Kennedy|accessdate=June 14, 2020}}</ref> The supervisors did not meet with the Middleton family and ignored an eloquent defense of General Middleton offered by former state Representative [[Woody Jenkins]] of Baton Rouge, who knew Middleton personall, and called upon the supervisors to consider the full context of Middleton's life. The supervisors voted unanimously to delete Middleton's name from the library. Within just two hours, the name was chiseled away letter by letter. The supervisors' action came on the day known as "[[Juneteenth]]" in the civil rights community, named for the freeing of the last [[slave]]s in the former [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] at [[Galveston, Texas|Galveston]], [[Texas]].<ref name=nameremoval>{{cite web|url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_a50055f4-b23a-11ea-847e-fb4e868ff514.html|title=Troy H. Middleton's name removed from LSU library hours after Board approval |author=Brooks Kubena|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=June 19, 2020|accessdate=June 20, 2020}}</ref>
Middleton's heirs, presumably grandchildren and great-grandchildren, asked to address the LSU supervisors to defend the general from the attacks against his legacy that occurred in the wake of the [[George Floyd]] shooting death in [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]].<ref name=namechange>{{cite web|url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_3ac98036-ace3-11ea-908e-7b1c6853d1b3.html|title=Middleton family asks to speak before LSU board about library name change|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate|date=June 12, 2020|author=Emma Kennedy|accessdate=June 14, 2020}}</ref> The supervisors did not meet with the Middleton family and ignored an eloquent defense of General Middleton offered by former state Representative [[Woody Jenkins]] of Baton Rouge, who knew Middleton personall, and called upon the supervisors to consider the full context of Middleton's life. The supervisors voted unanimously to delete Middleton's name from the library. Within just two hours, the name was chiseled away letter by letter. The supervisors' action came on the day known as "[[Juneteenth]]" in the civil rights community, named for the freeing of the last [[slave]]s in the former [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] at [[Galveston, Texas|Galveston]], [[Texas]].<ref name=nameremoval>{{cite web|url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_a50055f4-b23a-11ea-847e-fb4e868ff514.html|title=Troy H. Middleton's name removed from LSU library hours after Board approval |author=Brooks Kubena|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=June 19, 2020|accessdate=June 20, 2020}}</ref>
Jenkins said that despite Middleton's segregationist views in the 1950s, the general had enforced the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] when he was appointed by Governor [[John J. McKeithen]] as the chairman of the Governor's Biracial Commission on Human Relations, Rights and Responsibilities in 1965. Jenkins said that Middleton "was at the forefront" in the resoulution of racial crises in the 1960s in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], Opelousas in St. Lanery Parish, Ferriday in Concordia Parish,, and Bogalusa<ref name=nameremoval in Governor John Bel Edwards' Tangipahoa Parish.
Jenkins said that despite Middleton's segregationist views in the 1950s, the general had enforced the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] when he was appointed by Governor [[John J. McKeithen]] as the chairman of the Governor's Biracial Commission on Human Relations, Rights and Responsibilities in 1965. Jenkins said that Middleton "was at the forefront" in the resoulution of racial crises in the 1960s in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], Opelousas in St. Lanery Parish, Ferriday in Concordia Parish,, and Bogalusa<ref name=nameremoval/> in Governor John Bel Edwards' Tangipahoa Parish.
Robert E. Lee High School in Baton Rouge was also renamed Lee High School. Then on June 18, 2020, the politically correct East Baton Rouge Parish School Board appointed a committee to develop an alternative name for Lee High School. Connie Bernard, a Republican member of the school board for District 8, at first defended the name of General Lee and urged his critics to study the totality of Lee's career. However, Bernard quickly reversed course and pledged to work for racial reconciliation: “I condemn racial injustice in any form. I promise to be part of the solution and to listen to the concerns of all members of our community. I stand with you, in love and respect. … I agree with (New Orleans Saints football player) Drew Brees when he said, ‘We have a long way to go…. We can do better. We are all part of the solution.’ I promise I will be part of the solution.”<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_50df7e4c-b27f-11ea-b969-5b0376f4116f.html|title=Baton Rouge school board member apologizes for comments defending General Robert E. Lee|author=Charles Lussier|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=June 19, 2020|accessdate=June 20, 2020}}</ref>
==References==
==References==