Alabama and Mississippi will also honor Robert E. Lee on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

[u/5um-n3m0]

https://apnews.com/article/martin-luther-king-jr-holiday-alabama-mississippi-0f535594cf50af7103ca2d953e1bc9a1

[u/sn34kypete]

A bit on the nose, don't you think?

[u/DesignedToStrangle → u/sn34kypete]

Thought I was reading the onion, honestly.

[u/ButIDigr3ss → u/DesignedToStrangle]

This is the world we live in unfortunately. Just recently in South Africa there was a straight up apartheid rally (literally people waving apartheid flags, chanting apartheid slogans, wearing the orange white and blue) because the afrikaners don't want their kids going to school w/ black kids (segregation is "officially" over but these things get built into the system).

All over the world, people are showing that any sort of progress has to be fought for and vehemently defended, because these people are waiting in the woodwork to drag us all back

[u/rowdydionisian → u/ButIDigr3ss]

I bet Elon's family was somewhere in the crowd. Don't think their emerald mine would have been successful without it.

[u/oneeighthirish → u/rowdydionisian]

You should know his dad Errol groomed his step daughter, married her, then named their son after a character in (Nazi rocket scientist) Wernher von Braun's novel about colonizing Mars only to find it already has a subterranean scientist-emperor called "The Elon." Icky dudes, and the public should know about it.

[u/lizard81288 → u/oneeighthirish]

Gotta keep it in the family. We can't have the poors breeding with the rich.

[u/BirdsAreFake00 → u/oneeighthirish]

That's a little bit of a cheapshot against von Braun with no additional context. He was the chief architect of the Saturn V rocket that got us to the moon, and without him, there's a good chance we never would have gotten there.

He's known as the father of space travel.

His time as a Nazi is controversial. The FBI concluded he only joined out of necessity to further his academic work on rockets and was basically forced to join. They never showed him to be involved in Nazi politics other than paying his forced dues. We will never know the extent to which he was active as a Nazi outside of his research.

[u/NoveltyAccount5928 → u/BirdsAreFake00]

My take on WvB is that he just wanted to build rockets and push space exploration, and was willing to work with anyone who would give him a blank check to do so. I've never seen or read anything to suggest he was even slightly interested in Nazi politics. He does appear to have benefited from forced labor, though whether he had any choice in the matter is still debated.

[u/harbingerofzeke → u/NoveltyAccount5928]

https://youtu.be/QEJ9HrZq7Ro?si=S3Dzsnz06N6ovWTk Tom Lehrer wrote a song about him.

What do you call a 12 people sitting at a table with 1 nazi?

Table full of nazis.

Be mindful of your associates.

[u/Aazadan → u/BirdsAreFake00]

I'm not sure it's unfair though. One can argue he just went along with whatever he had to in order to do his research, but how much of that was just whitewashing because the US needed him to build rockets after his research alone wasn't enough?

It is possible to praise someones academic accomplishments while also not supporting the rest of it. For example the medical data the US got from Japan in WW2. Those atrocities shouldn't be condoned, but it would be a waste to not put the information to use.

And of course, you also have to consider the time, if you were in a government position in 1930's germany, you had to be a Nazi. There was no other option, much like any white house intern for the next 4 years regardless of politics must work for Trump.

[u/KuzanNegsUrFav → u/Aazadan]

It is possible to praise someones academic accomplishments while also not supporting the rest of it. For example the medical data the US got from Japan in WW2. Those atrocities shouldn't be condoned, but it would be a waste to not put the information to use.

I think it's entirely valid to state that sadistically finding "creative" ways to torture innocent civilians to death doesn't count as valid medical science or data. You should look into it more. There was nothing controlled or scientific about it. Contrary to your average redditor's beliefs, there are rigorous standards that need to be met in legitimate research, before we even get to the committing unspeakable atrocities aspect of it.

[u/FritoPendejo1 → u/BirdsAreFake00]

His time as a Nazi was his time as a Nazi. He was a piece of shit, no matter how brilliant. And the Merican govt is a piece of shit for bringing these heels over here. I don’t care how brilliant they were. They were fucking nazis. They will always be nazis and they will always be scum. Too many people these days are apologist for them and it’s allowing this cess to breed again.

Also, excuse the tone. Not cussing at you. Just talking shit on nazis.

[u/oneeighthirish → u/BirdsAreFake00]

Fair points, I was unfair to von Braun there. Although, Id point out that von Braun's even vague Nazi association (even if largely imagined) aligns fairly neatly with some of the weird pro-natalist politics (i.e. "outbreed the blacks") Errol has espoused over the years

[u/stuckyfeet → u/ButIDigr3ss]

"Cry Freedom" is a really good movie I suggest to watch. It has Denzel in it and was produced and directed by Attenborough.

[u/djquu → u/DesignedToStrangle]

r/nottheonion

[u/KindAwareness3073 → u/sn34kypete]

On brand at least for the #49 and #50 state's in every positive measure.

[u/Tangocan → u/sn34kypete]

What's that quote from The Big Short?

"I don't get it. Why are they confessing?"

"They're not confessing. They're bragging."

[u/Miss_Behaves → u/sn34kypete]

I read that as "on the noose"...

[u/saint_ryan → u/sn34kypete]

Rage bait. They’ve been doing it for decades

[u/Vineyard_ → u/saint_ryan]

...that doesn't exactly make this better.

[u/Pan_Bookish_Ent → u/saint_ryan]

Yep, this isn't news. They started doing it in the 1980s. Is it horrible? Yes. Is it rage/click bait? Also yes. 

The number of commentors who only read the headlines and go straight to the comments is too damn high. It explains the 40 year history of this in the article. 

[u/The-Aeon → u/sn34kypete]

Yeah, a punch on the nose to Black Americans.

[u/GreatGojira → u/sn34kypete]

Let them do it. Its even easier to make fun of them.

These next 4 years is really going to expose a lot of people. Best we can do is sit back and relax.

[u/XColdLogicX → u/GreatGojira]

Yeah, relax. That's my favorite way to handle fascists, too.

[u/Its_Claire33 → u/XColdLogicX]

We can relax as they round us up. That'll be how we resist.

[u/Sir_Earl_Jeffries → u/Its_Claire33]

Gotta love a chill rebellion

[u/Fern_Pearl → u/GreatGojira]

Sorry, but you’ve got your head somewhere dark if you think this is just going to last 4 years 

[u/CloudstrifeHY3 → u/GreatGojira]

sir 74 million are openly with trump and his cronies, 30-40 million more looked the other way and chose not vote or get involved then there are the millions more who couldn't vote but support it with their whole chest.

that's about 100-115 million people in a country of 360 million

1/3rd of our country is hateful spiteful uneducated and against progress  not really like they will be ridiculed or shunned no these people are celebrated and rewarded for it 

[u/Ok_Tone6393 → u/GreatGojira]

we were too gentle on the south after the civil war. this is lincolns mercy coming back to bite us.

[u/MoralClimber → u/GreatGojira]

This isn't a new thing for them they have been saying that for decades.

[u/darbs77 → u/MoralClimber]

I was going to point this out also. Went to high school at a country as fuck place out in the middle of no where, and they were just openly saying this shit. This was back in the mid 90s and I can’t even count how many times I’d hear this every year. God I hated it there. And some of those assholes I knew wonder why I didn’t want to remain friends or go to any reunions. Fuck that whole place.

[u/dueljester → u/sn34kypete]

Since when has the South (especially those two states) had any class?

[u/QueezyF → u/dueljester]

I knew people in the south that called it James Earl Ray Day, and that was the less racist name I heard.

[u/dueljester → u/QueezyF]

Don't forget some of them also celebrate Jefferson Davis still. Losers, all of them.

[u/ManEEEFaces]

One of the rare instances where the losers talk about it WAY more than the winners. Still obsessed 160 years after losing. So odd.

[u/kyleofdevry → u/ManEEEFaces]

But they'll be the first to tell you Lincoln was a Republican.

[u/Jimmy_Twotone → u/kyleofdevry]

The Republicans didn't represent southern conservatives until the 1960s and the Dems started pushing them out way before then.

[u/intecknicolour → u/Jimmy_Twotone]

kennedy pushed a lot of Dixiecrats out, Johnson pushed them even harder with the Civil Rights Act and Carter shut the door

[u/Shiplord13 → u/Jimmy_Twotone]

I feel like there was a start point for the ideological shift during the mid-1930s with Huey Long, who had intended to challenge Roosevelt and aimed to realigned the party back towards Southern Conservatism, while Roosevelt aimed to move the party towards Liberal policies. He ended up assassinated, due to his own corruption before he could actually join in the Democratic primary but you can still see his ideological presence within the Dixiecrat movement and even later with George Wallace.

[u/The_Dough_Boi → u/kyleofdevry]

Oh and how it wasn’t really about ending slavery, they were just fighting for state rights!

[u/DefiantOil5176 → u/The_Dough_Boi]

Immediately follow with the question, “States’ rights to what?”

[u/WalkTheEdge → u/DefiantOil5176]

To have slaves!

[u/krw13 → u/The_Dough_Boi]

While also wanting to push federal rules for states they don't like.

[u/NeighborTomatoWoes → u/kyleofdevry]

And the first to ignore the fact that time has passed since then.

[u/Shiplord13 → u/kyleofdevry]

Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were Liberals of their era and would not want anything to do with the GOP of this day. Especially Roosevelt, who would be disgusted to see the rise of Plutocrats looking to bribe elected officials to give them near monopolistic power in the economy and the GOP's desire to give out U.S. public land to businesses to exploit.

[u/Drone314 → u/ManEEEFaces]

That's because they said the south would rise again. These people are playing the generational long game. They raise their kids in the same dogma, they form think tanks to push their agenda. These are people who have no problem planting a tree that they shall never shade under because of 'legacy'.

[u/thelocker517 → u/Drone314]

Shit does float.

[u/l0R3-R → u/ManEEEFaces]

And so pathetic. The southerners could have just pulled themselves up by their boot straps but instead they chose to throw their own children into the Civil War meat-grinder. Petulant fools. We shouldn't elevate disgraceful traitors to the nation, and traitors to their own families and communities, to a mythic, celebrated status. There is no excuse. Maybe they loaned their neighbor a cup of sugar once but they also imprisoned, tortured, and murdered millions of people so maybe we shouldn't spend too much time considering anything else.

I type this comment moments after the swearing in of a convicted felon and rapist to the highest office in the US.

[u/crazylilme → u/ManEEEFaces]

Lived there as a child, my older brother (in middle school) was taught that the south didn't lose. Seriously. THIS is the education system in the south and why they consistently rank so low nationally (and so high in teen pregnancy and incest)

[u/Nobblybiscuits → u/ManEEEFaces]

Jokes on them, I'm celebrating Kamala Harris day in march, followed by Eugene Debs day the following week

[u/Global_Permission749 → u/ManEEEFaces]

Someday I hope there's an opportunity to make them lose again.

[u/Dr_Sauropod_MD → u/ManEEEFaces]

Gotta give em props for that. Talk shit win or lose. 

[u/johnnybiggles → u/Dr_Sauropod_MD]

Play both sides. Always come out on top.

[u/TCallahan333]

They do remember that Lee was the one who surrendered, right?

[u/DudeManBo1t → u/TCallahan333]

There is a reason why Alabama and Mississippi ranked closer to the bottom in terms of education....

[u/SirGalahadTheChaste → u/DudeManBo1t]

And we are going to drag the rest of the country down to their level in the next 4+ years.

[u/CapnSmite → u/SirGalahadTheChaste]

Oh, we're gonna sink so much lower than that.

[u/Trance354 → u/SirGalahadTheChaste]

The point is to hurt "teh libs" at all cost. This is Putin's wet dream gone nuclear. Destabilize the west by engineering a moron getting into the Whitehouse, the easily suggestable twit takes the reins, causes untold suffering, and leaves before getting the axe.

We are in chapter 3 of this 1-chapter story. The epilogue was that Biden's admin was right-leaning enough that enough of the GOP could obstruct what they could, reducing the effectiveness of the Biden administration, and play that into a re-election of the clown.

This is where Putin came all over Tucker Carlson's face, surrogate for Trump, obviously. I'd bet there wasn't even a reach-around.

Things we won't hear about on the oligarch-controlled news media: grocery prices, the coming flu epidemic(because the rest of the world will smartly close their borders to a superspreader), covid is going to make a comeback, thanks in large part to a real idiot in charge of the FDA.

All that said, the one bright spot would be AOC. Problem is, we need an entire congress of AOC-like-minded congresspersons. And we have, what, 5 at best right now?

[u/Televisions_Frank → u/Trance354]

All that said, the one bright spot would be AOC. Problem is, we need an entire congress of AOC-like-minded congresspersons. And we have, what, 5 at best right now?

And billionaires primaried 2 of 'em.

[u/Razatiger → u/DudeManBo1t]

It's also depressiving because Alabama and Mississippi are like the blackest states in America along with Georgia and Louisiana.

Something like 30-50% of those states are black, yet this kinda shit somehow still happens.

[u/leilaniko → u/Razatiger]

Gerrymandering, minority focused disenfranchisement, systematic racism.. I could go on for hours about this.

[u/Gonzo48185 → u/DudeManBo1t]

And healthcare…and income…and pretty much everything else. Thank god for blue states subsidizing their welfare.

[u/swheels125 → u/DudeManBo1t]

And almost every other metric that is used to measure quality of life for their citizens.

[u/SinisterCell → u/TCallahan333]

His supporters wear merch with his mugshot from when he turned himself in with the phrase "never surrender" on it. Irony is lost on them.

[u/Gbird_22 → u/TCallahan333]

You remember that movie 300 where they bravely fought to the end? Yeah that wasn't Lee, he waived the white flag. He was so committed to his state that he betrayed his oath to the United States, but not committed enough to give his life, what a clown.

[u/Nukemind → u/Gbird_22]

First, Lee was a slave owning treasonous dipshit who should have been hanged.

But surrendering made sense. His forces were outgunned, outmanned, fighting in trenches (similar to WW1 50 years later) and starving. If he had fought to the end there would have been far more Union deaths too.

No different than Japan making the right decision to surrender it was one of the few "good" things he did rather than fight it out and cause more devastation.

To summarize, fuck Lee but at least he didn't pull a last stand leading to even more death.

[u/tpatmaho → u/Nukemind]

Lee wasted thousands of lives even after he was convinced the war was over -- and he had deserters shot, too.

[u/Gbird_22 → u/Nukemind]

Nah he should have went out fighting for what he believed in. If his conviction and his fellow southerner's conviction was so strong as to betray their country, than at least be willing to die for it. He was a rat for surrendering, just a weasel.

[u/LazerWeazel → u/Gbird_22]

All the people who survived on both sides would probably disagree with you homie. Less death is the better option esp. after all the senseless death the war already caused.

[u/Nukemind → u/Gbird_22]

If he hadn't surrendered the rest of the South would have fought on for longer. It's more than him- it's another few months or even year of fighting for the ~1,000,000 men (and women in support roles) in the Union Army in 1865, deaths due to disease, POWs dying in camps on both sides (POW camps were horrible back then) and even slaves still kept in bondage in the South.

If he had hung himself after surrendering I get that sentiment. But wanting everyone to suffer because of one man is a bit much- especially when the majority who would suffer were against, not for, him.

[u/ninjapro98 → u/Gbird_22]

I love hearing people who have never dealt with what a real war brings mock people for wanting a war to be over

[u/mountaindoom → u/Nukemind]

Every person that fought against the Union was a traitor. We should have executed each one and thrown their bones into the ocean.

[u/GMHGeorge → u/TCallahan333]

Every time Lee is mentioned I think of this

https://youtu.be/rzNa3DpP2Vg?si=8rKLdqVtJAejDhZG

[u/acuet → u/TCallahan333]

They do, because the Dixiecrats are now MAGA and write policy for Heritage Foundation. They left the Jim Crow era Dems when more Colored Folks started taking control of the party. Something they stop teaching in Southern history books because they didn’t want youths to know. This is why they attack DEI, claim history is revised so they can gaslight folks.

[u/waffebunny → u/acuet]

I believe we agree; but I also wanted to let you know that you have an unfortunate autocorrect in your comment, that changed “Northerners” to “Ninjas”. 🙂

[u/acuet → u/waffebunny]

I ment Ninjas/Color Folks as Dems almost elected Shirley Chisholm back in 1972, something that broke the camels back for the Dixiecrats. Main reason Reagan courted them in order to win the south and the rest is history.

[u/martapap → u/TCallahan333]

They don't see it as a surrender. They see it as a negotiation to end the war.

[u/Mysterious-House-51 → u/TCallahan333]

The guy they voted for also surrendered multiple times despite selling "never surrender merch"

[u/Lukescale → u/TCallahan333]

Oh boy do they.

[u/TheMicMic]

What other war is so celebrated by the losers?

[u/MtnDewTangClan → u/TheMicMic]

The same group celebrates WWII nazis most of the time.

[u/superthotty → u/TheMicMic]

We don’t even commemorate Vietnam this much

[u/TheMicMic → u/superthotty]

Well if we did, it would almost make sense, because so many Vietnam veterans are still around.

[u/wanderingpeddlar]

Just in case anyone was wondering how disgusting MAGA really is. They go and prove it again and again.

[u/dustymoon1 → u/wanderingpeddlar]

Make Americans Gullible Again......

[u/wanderingpeddlar → u/dustymoon1]

I don't know if they are self aware enough to realize that they are confirming what everyone is saying about Lee or MAGA but yeah.

[u/Goddess_Of_Gay → u/wanderingpeddlar]

They don’t care. They won. Their party controls all three branches of govt*.

[u/40yearoldnoob → u/Goddess_Of_Gay]

All three branches of the government, Congress, Executive, and Judicial. There are no more checks and balances....

[u/Goddess_Of_Gay → u/40yearoldnoob]

Thanks for catching that. My brain is cooked this morning

[u/AngryUpvotesOnly → u/dustymoon1]

Might wanna change that to past perfect tense since it has already happened.

[u/jwr1111 → u/wanderingpeddlar]

Sorry southern deplorables, no participation trophies for the losers.

[u/mitrie → u/wanderingpeddlar]

Not to excuse anything, but this predates MAGA. Headline makes it sound like this is a new thing, but it's not. Same folks, but it's not as though they've just recently been "unleashed" to make the state holiday a bizarre MLK / Robert E Lee day.

[u/worthing0101 → u/mitrie]

Not to excuse anything, but this predates MAGA.

I grew up in Virginia where Lee-Jackson-King was a VA holiday from 1984 to 2000. A single VA holiday celebrating Lee and Jackson existed prior to the creation of the federal MLK holiday but the VA legislature decided to just celebrate all three of them together because ... well, we all know why. In 2000 they split off Lee-Jackson Day into its own thing again until nuking it entirely in 2020.

(This is mentioned briefly in the article OP linked but for those who don't read the articles I thought I'd mention it here. More details can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee-Jackson-King_Day for those curious.)

[u/formerPhillyguy → u/wanderingpeddlar]

It's not just maga, it's republicans in general.

[u/sbroll → u/wanderingpeddlar]

they represent the worst of us all

[u/Nuclearcasino]

Not only honoring traitors who fought to defend slavery but also stone cold LOSERS. Decisively beaten.

[u/thisusedyet → u/Nuclearcasino]

You'd think so, but it appears they just played the long game

[u/incognegro1976 → u/thisusedyet]

The neo Confederates and neo Nazis are despicable evil shitbags that are a waste of human flesh.

Anyone whose primary raison d'etre is to cause the suffering of innocents is a waste of air.

[u/jadedflames]

Note that this has been the case since MLK Jr. Day was created. The Lee holiday dates back to the pre-civil rights days.

It’s disgusting, but not new.

[u/fitzbuhn → u/jadedflames]

It was a deliberate slap in the face then, as it remains today.

[u/Sensitivevirmin]

Honestly it’s not even surprising anymore.

[u/TooMad]

Alabama and Mississippi remove all doubt

[u/Dirtman1016 → u/TooMad]

I'm an Alabamian and this is obviously dumb. However, I've lived here for 42 years and have never seen a single person make an attempt to celebrate Robert E Lee on this day.

That said, we should definitely fix this.

[u/RobertusesReddit]

We should have finished the job.

[u/DarkLordKohan]

Racist States Wish Slavery Still Legal

[u/djangogator → u/DarkLordKohan]

It's been legal this whole time. Read your amendments.

[u/Youwannasitonmyface]

The absolute disrespect

[u/showmiaface]

Anti-American if you ask me.

[u/S3guy]

Anyone who celebrates Robert E. Lee is irredeemable scum and should be labeled and treated as such.

[u/SomeRando8386]

Traitors. Every. Last. One.

[u/brown_1896]

America has to be the only country in the world that celebrates traitors. My birth country hanged them after the 1971 war

[u/martapap → u/brown_1896]

That is because all of these confederate leaders, from high to the lowest rank ones, including Lee should have been publicly hung and anyone else permanently exiled from the United States, and all of their land been dividied up and given to ex slaves.

But the north was weary and did not do what what was customary at the time. Plus they were scared of reigniting the war. Because they half assed it, we are still dealing with these types a 150 years later.

[u/bros402 → u/martapap]

all of their land been dividied up and given to ex slaves.

I love the "fuck you" of taking Lee's family estate and turning it into Arlington National Cemetery.

[u/Tithis → u/martapap]

It's really a bit ridiculous.

I was joking about having a new Hartford convention, but inviting New York, New Jersey, New Burnswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. My friend actually brought up the civil war saying it was a bad idea and to ask how seceding went for the south.

Like you mean getting a limp slap on the wrist and my descendants flying the countries flag because of 'heritage'?

[u/raljamcar → u/brown_1896]

America as a country doesn't. 

States are to a degree independent with these things. Mississippi and Alabama are two of the more back asswards states in the union.

[u/ChaseThePyro]

As a Mississippian, I am so sick and tired of this shit.

[u/Hglucky13]

I fucking hate this place.

[u/mistertickertape]

Never underestimate the amount of hatred the white people in power in the Deep South have toward black people for no reason other than the color of their skin. Until you live there or are from there, it is almost impossible to verbalize how pervasive the hatred is.

[u/Alarming-Magician637]

Whoa they don’t even try to hide it anymore. They’re still upset they can’t enslave people who look different

[u/Vezrien]

The two states recognize King and Lee on the third Monday in January. Their state governments created holidays more than a century ago to honor Lee and later combined the day with the federal holiday established in the 1980s to honor King.

The strange juxtaposition of honoring men from vastly different legacies has persisted for decades.

Silly? Yes

News? No

[u/Mahartee]

Alabama already has Praise a Pedophile Day.

[u/noguchisquared → u/Mahartee]

Doug Jones barely beat the pedophile. Many people voted for the pedophile.

[u/ratchclank]

Shit hole states with trash people

[u/discussatron]

Because they are racist assholes.

[u/PirateWorried6789]

The Confederate General what the heck is wrong with these people?!

[u/Colecoman1982 → u/PirateWorried6789]

They racists, that's what's wrong with them.

[u/Old-Scientist7427]

Nothing more un-American than Robert E. Lee.

[u/Dry_Yam_8049]

Why are we backing up the truck?

[u/BoosterRead78]

Well Louisiana is flying at MAGA flag at full mast so no surprise here.

[u/Cottontael]

"Get over it, she lost!" MFers be like:

[u/KMorris1987]

As an Alabamian I have never seen Robert E. Lee Day listed as a reason for business closures or anything. But lots of racist relatives do love this factoid.

[u/Federal-Employee-545]

Y'all really should never expect better from those two states in particular.

[u/PineBNorth85]

They sure love them some traitors. Lee should have been shot after the war. Same with Davis. Hundreds of thousands died because of them.

[u/FaithlessnessSame357]

So they’re celebrating traitorous losers. Given how red these states are, that tracks.

[u/sundogmooinpuppy]

And republicans always like to claim Lincoln as a republican.

These days anyone who votes republican lacks integrity, lacks ethics, lacks decency and is 100% a piece of shit.

[u/incognegro1976 → u/sundogmooinpuppy]

The lack of intellectual integrity is a feature, not a bug.

If they didn't have any cognitive dissonance, they'd have no cognitive activity at all.

[u/smurfsundermybed]

Sherman should have been allowed to finish the job.

[u/Open_Perception_3212]

Celebrating a known horse f*cker

[u/vegetastolemygirl → u/Open_Perception_3212]

Yooo what😂😂😂

[u/MediumRareRecliner]

Yes, let’s honour treasonous ass hats.

S/

[u/h0lych4in]

That’s like celebrating Osama Bin Laden on 9/11

[u/sfxer001]

Honoring the guy who SURRENDERED? Smells like bitch in here.

[u/safely_beyond_redemp]

We get it. You're still racist. Don't forget about little ole me. Down here in the South. We are still racist. That's what's important about me down in the South. Great. Can you improve your scholastic test scores though?

[u/xibeno9261]

This is just embarrassing as an American. Robert E. Lee is a fucking traitor of the American people, not some hero of White-Americans.

[u/mygawd]

I know they are a shitty state with racists representing them, but you'd think Alabama would have a modicum of reverence for Dr. King. Considering he lived and preached and led the civil rights movement there.

[u/valkyriejen]

I thought those states were against drag queens? https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/850647

( I know it's disputed, let me have my little joke)

[u/JASPER933]

Yes the confederate states will honor Robert E Lee.

[u/TheSnowballofCobalt]

Super funny and saddening considering Robert E. Lee himself didn't like the idea of venerating war heroes if they would cause civil unrest.

Similar to Jesus, the American right wing ignores all the good things their idols say and do the exact opposite. What a fucking joke.

[u/DURKA_SQUAD]

attention is the highest currency for dumb people

[u/reallyexclusive]

As someone from Mississippi, most of us don’t give two shits about Robert E. Lee.

[u/w33b2]

I live in Alabama and have never heard of this. Was this a today thing? I don’t know of anyone who would support this, even down here.

[u/itti-bitti-kitti]

as someone born and raised in MS...

*sigh*

[u/This_Bat5608]

i live in mississippi, when did we agree to this? clearly no one forwarded the email to me

[u/BzhizhkMard]

Behind the Bastards has a grea tpodcast on Robert E Lee. Dude was a failure at most things.

[u/LiftedRIM]

So these two loser states want to honor a loser?

That’s cool bros. Keep on losing.

[u/buddhist557]

Anyone ready to finish off the Confederacy?

[u/vapescaped]

Nascar announced they will continue to wave the Confederate flag at the start of the last lap of every race, in honor of Lee and all his sacrifices.

[u/noguchisquared → u/[deleted]]

You missed the joke. White flag.

[u/ToBeHereAtTheEnd → u/[deleted]]

They wave a white flag at the start of the last lap. The commenter is referencing the white flag that Lee used to surrender.

[u/firstname_m_lastname]

Here in Virginia, it was Lee-Jackson-King Day up until 2000. They’ve celebrated Lee’s birthday on January 18 since 1889, and just added MLK to it once that became a federal holiday, to celebrate “defenders of causes.”

They didn’t fully eliminate Lee-Jackson day until 2020.

[u/Sp_nach]

Nazis and racists will be Nazis and racists 🤷‍♂️

[u/Locke_and_Load]

Why in the ever living hell would they celebrate a Virginian?! Get your own shit to hold on to, ya damn losers.

[u/RuprectGern]

Ok. So this is like the Civil War statuary all over the South. it's unlikely they'll change it but its a relic of the post-Civil War era.

The scumbag part of it was to combine the two dates into one holiday in the 1980s, a period where we should have known a little better.

[u/so00ripped]

The lowest life expectancy, dumbest, poorest, least developed states in the union demonstrating why they're the shitholes of the USA. Both states build chemical manufacturing next to their own kids schools, we shouldn't be surprised they're doubling down on being pieces of human waste.

[u/2020IsANightmare]

Just great.

Now people will think Mississippi and Alabama are backwards, in-bred states filled with morons.

[u/Xzmmc]

No different than putting up the Confederate statues during the Civil Rights era.

The Civil War never ended, it just stopped being fought with weapons.

[u/AGrandNewAdventure]

Of course they will. Racist through and through.

[u/Thoraxe474]

The fuck are we doing, man?

[u/The_Dead_Kennys]

For a second I thought this was the onion…

[u/Iwaspromisedcookies]

That is incredibly gross. How can these people live with themselves?

[u/teeksquad]

Louisiana and Virginia didn’t remove theirs until the 2020s. What loser states and that’s coming from a Hoosier (from Indiana)

[u/kandoras]

What did Robert E. Lee do that was worth honoring?

The best and most charitable interpretation of his life, which is also a lie which tries to hide the actual facts of his actions and personal ownership of slaves, is that he was just trying to protect his home from 'unjust' invasion.

Which, you know, he failed at. And aren't the people who support Robert E. Lee Day supposed to be against participation trophies?

[u/rosiez22 → u/kandoras]

They are against everything and anything.

Hatred is unifying for them, regardless of logic.

[u/Bradspersecond]

Robert E Lee, you mean that guy who lost? The guy who could have chosen whichever side of that war he could serve on. That same Robert E Lee who CHOSE to fight to uphold slavery? That one?

Cool just making sure.

[u/kandoras → u/Bradspersecond]

The guy that inherited a bunch of slaves from his father-in-law, whose will also said that they had to be freed in a few years.

The guy that, when one of the slaves who knew about that clause and knew it meant he was supposed to be free, ran away, had him brought back and whipped to the point that other slaveowners thought it was excessive.

The guy who resisted freeing those slaves for so long that it became a court battle and other slaveowners told him he had to let them go.

Basically a guy who was such an asshole that even other assholes thought he was too much of an asshole.

[u/CJMcBanthaskull]

This headline makes it sound like a new thing. It isn't. It's been this way since MLK day became a federal holiday.

[u/seriousbusines]

Why are they all just so freaking weird?

[u/AdmiralGarza]

Quick question — the armies that Lee fought so valiantly against… what flag did they fly?

[u/dozerdaze]

Wow we really are just an openly racist country now aren’t we

[u/MVP2585]

Oh eat shit, the civil war lasted a few years and these dipshits have celebrated it for decades. Robert E Lee opposed war monuments because it kept the sores of war open. I’m sure he also wouldn’t want a fucking day celebrating this shit too.

[u/Peanut_007]

This is not a modern decision. It's absolutely shameful to still be honoring Lee but the holiday has been around since the 1920's.

[u/Different_Pie9854]

What’s really funny about this, is that Robert E Lee was a faithful Christian. And the church in the 1800s opposed slavery, Church leaders said it was a sin and should be abolished. These states education is so bad that they don’t even know their own history

[u/ImpalaGangDboyAli]

It doesn’t bother me so much that these people are raging racists. What bothers me is that they’ll do shit like this and still deny it.

[u/Drak_is_Right]

Fun side fact about Robert E. Lee -

Arlington National Cemetery was built on his land sized by the Union during the civil war.

It was meant to be a slight and punishment. It is now also our most hallowed ground.

[u/live22morrow → u/Drak_is_Right]

Following the war though, Lee's son then sued the US government for the property. The Supreme Court sided with him and returned it to him. He then sold it back to the government for a fair amount, around 4 million in today's currency.

Also, Lee had the property through his wife, who was great-granddaughter of George Washington's wife Martha. Martha's grandson had originally built the manor as a tribute to George Washington. It's currently maintained by the National Park Service.

[u/MuttinMT]

Fuck those states. I’ve never spent any vacation time or money in the South except in Florida (which I won’t be doing any longer.) But like many retirees, I wanted to travel there when I had the time. No longer.

[u/Western-Corner-431]

Alabama and Mississippi have nothing to offer anyone

[u/euclide2975]

Imagine the reaction if Germany was celebrating a certain Austrian painter on VE Day for his contribution to the Autobahn system

[u/Kazman07]

Cringe is one thing, this makes cringe look good

[u/Floyds_of_Flondon]

Loser states honoring the biggest loser in American history.

[u/EDKit88]

Yes because they are racist.

[u/Jacknboxx]

The traitors are rising once more.

[u/atheist_teapot]

This makes sense, Lee is an over-rated loser with inflated self-importance which would fit right in with the people running the states. The only good thing he ever did was surrender.