Robert E. Lee Relative Reflects On 'Sickening' Events In Charlottesville And His Family Legacy

Confederate monuments around the country are coming down following the events of Charlottesville where hate groups rallied around a statue of Robert E. Lee. Now, a nephew of Lee, many generations removed, shares his thoughts on the family legacy with WFDD's Bethany Chafin. Robert Wright Lee IV is a pastor at a church in Winston-Salem.

Interview Highlights:

On when he first became aware of the significance of his name:

I grew up knowing I was a descendant of Robert Edward Lee, and I never really gave it much thought until it became time to go to college. People were like, 'Oh my gosh, you're related to him,' or whenever I'd pull out my credit card, people would say, 'Oh, are you related to the general?' and they'd have a comment about that. And it really made me reconcile my views on race with my views about Christianity, my views about who God is and what God does in the world. I was a religious studies student at Appalachian State. And I just really felt that I had to at least think about this in a critical way after growing up, not celebrating Robert E. Lee, but at least knowing I was related to him.

On how he views Robert E. Lee today:

I think he's a character in history that I would really like to talk to. People view him either as a statesman who fought for state's rights, or an evil man who owned slaves. I want to believe that there was something in the middle, but I know he owned slaves and I know he treated them pretty harshly. I have to view him as someone who I don't want to imitate or be like. I have to view him as a part of my family's history that is hard to reckon with in views of my faith, in views of my political leanings. It's just very hard to look down the line of my family history and see Robert E. Lee standing there as a figure that some people celebrate and some people vilify. And it's hard to view Robert E. Lee in a good light after all that we know about him.

On his reaction to events in Charlottesville:

I was sickened. I was sick to my stomach to see that people were taking my ancestor and making him the impetus for this violence...to see such evil in the name of a man that I also bear that name, was sickening. And I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this man in history somehow has the same blood as me. There's part of me that was from that bloodline. And so to see that is not white guilt, it's just guilt...I see it as something of a personal reality that I have to face.

On claiming his name and speaking out:

I see this as an opportunity to speak out. And I think about this with my own wife, Stephanie. We just got married two months ago and we have no plans to have kids any time soon, but the question is, 'Is the name going to continue?' And that's something that we've wrestled with for some time. Even before we got married, we were thinking, 'Oh gosh, do we really want to continue the name?' And it's a beautiful name, it's who I am - I am Rob Lee. But it also carries with it a weight that no one should have to carry alone. All of us, all of the Robert Lees...we all have to figure out ways to bear that weight together and to say enough is enough. We can no longer accept this as OK. White supremacy is evil, and we have to name it as such.                

Editor's Note: A 2021 article by the Washington Post has called into question and shed light on the ancestry of Rev. Rob Lee. You can read more here.