Robert E. Lee’s name removed from two California national parks, officials say
Two California national parks are removing any mention of Confederate general Robert E. Lee as protests against police brutality have led to the dismantling of public monuments associated with slavery or colonialism.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks are striking any mention of Lee from the parks and materials, Visalia Times Delta reported.
“National parks are places that protect and preserve our natural and cultural heritage. They tell the important stories of who we are as a people. They provide beauty and inspiration that can unite and heal,” park spokesperson Sintia Kawasaki-Yee told the publication. “It is our hope that removing references to the Robert E. Lee tree will enhance the role of Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks as places for renewal.”
A 255-foot tree named for Robert E. Lee located in Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park was removed from a list of the world’s biggest sequoias, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Kawasaki-Yee said the move was to “promote inclusiveness” but added that officially changing the name of the tree will require approval from either the National Park Service or Congress, according to the publication.
The General Lee tree in Sequoia National Park was named by park concessionaire John Broder in 1901 and formally dedicated in a Daughters of the Confederacy ceremony in 1937, SFGate reported.
Lee was the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the Civil War and a slave owner.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he was directing a statue of Lee in Richmond to be taken down while its future is weighed, according to CNN, and a statue of Lee in Montgomery, Alabama, was also torn down by demonstrators in front of a high school named for the Confederate general. Four people have been charged with first-degree criminal mischief after the statue in Alabama was toppled.
Those are just some of the several Confederate statues that have been removed across the country since the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis police custody, which led to nationwide protests., CNN reported.
Floyd, 46, died while in police custody on May 25. Now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes, has been charged with murder. He remains jailed under a $1.25 million bond.
Three other officers in the case were also fired. They have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 10:12 AM with the headline "Robert E. Lee’s name removed from two California national parks, officials say."