Robert E. Lee wasn’t the hero of mythology. He was a slaveowner who led an army that fought a treasonous war of rebellion with the aim of preserving the “abominable institution” of slavery. Good riddance to his statue. Southern whites were never victims of oppression; they were oppressors. Now, 166 years after the War Between the States ended, a monument has been erected in the former Confederate capital to the real victims of antebellum southern culture. The question is: Why did it take so long for Richmond, Virginia, to finally do the right thing?
