This is a call to action to rename Westmoreland County’s High School.  Now is the time.  We are the ones to do it.  It is long past due.

     I am a proud alum of W&L (Class of ‘89).  I have been deeply troubled by the high school’s name for quite some time, not only because of who it honors but also because of the significant number of people of color who pass through its doors and earn degrees.  For many, their high school diploma is the only one that they will receive.  Even for those who go on to receive additional degrees, their high school diploma is the one they worked hardest and longest to achieve.  Often, it is the most cherished.  And it has Robert E. Lee’s name on it.

     It is indeed a settled point that Robert E. Lee and his memory do not deserve our continued honor.  At this point in our history—159 years since he resigned his commission in the United States Army and joined an insurrectionist movement against the United States—it can no longer be argued by people in good faith that Confederate General Robert E. Lee deserves the honor of having our high school named for him.  The school was not named for him because of his service to the United States; instead, the school was named for him because he was born in Westmoreland County, on his father’s slave plantation, Stratford Hall Plantation.  
That cannot—and should not—be enough, especially considering his decision to fight against the United States and for slavery.

     In small ways and not-so-small ways, keeping his name on our school perpetuates the notion of white supremacy, i.e., precisely what Lee was fighting for as a confederate general. We must change the school’s name.