School board member who praised Robert E Lee criticised for shopping online during debate about dropping his name
A white school board member in Louisiana has apologised for telling people who are offended by a local school named for Confederate general Robert E Lee should "learn a little more about" him.
Baton Rouge resident Gary Chambers, who noticed East Baton Rouge School Board member Connie Bernard shopping online during a meeting about the school's name change, condemned her remarks at a board meeting on 18 June, footage of which has since gone viral.
"This is a picture of you shopping while we're talking about racism and history in this country," said Mr Chambers, who is black. "Only white members of the board got up while we're talking. You don't give a damn."
Mr Chambers pointed to Lee's history as a "brutal slave master" and disputed a false narrative or Mr Lee as an anti-slavery champion perpetuated by the Lost Cause narrative of the civil war propagated by some pro-Confederacy historians.
"You sit your arrogant self in here and sit on there shopping while the pain and the hurt of this community are on display," he said. "You should walk out of here and resign and never come back because you are the example of racism in this community. You are horrible."
On Thursday, the school board voted unanimously to consider renaming the 61-year-old school, which had voted in 2016 to drop Robert E from its name. Ms Bernard was among school board members who had voted to keep the Lee in Lee High School.
Ms Bernard denied shopping online in a statement to The Advocate.
Before the meeting, she told a local news outlet: "I would hope that they would learn a little bit more about General Lee, because General Lee inherited a large plantation and he was tasked with the job of doing something with those people who lived in bondage to that plantation, the slaves, and he freed them."
Lee had not only enslaved people but beat them and fought in court to keep them while relying on their labour for several years to pay off legacies associated with his father-in-law's estate, John Reeves, author of The Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee: The Forgotten Case Against an American Icon, told the Associated Press.
The school board's meeting follows weeks of unrest and renewed debate, as well as the physical toppling of statues and monuments to the Confederacy, examining their white supremacist legacy as the US boils over in its reckoning with systemic racism and police violence.
"Between owning a handful of slaves from his own family and then managing his father-in-law's 200 slaves, Lee was very, very involved with slavery during his life up until the end of 1862," he said.
At least 178 schools in 17 states across the US are still named for men with ties to the Confederacy, according to an Education Week analysis of federal data.
Fifty-three schools are named for General Lee and more than a dozen are named after Stonewall Jackson, and more than a dozen others are named for Sidney Lanier.
In her apology, Ms Bernard said: "My comments last week about the naming of Lee High School were insensitive, have caused pain for others, and have led people to believe I am an enemy of people of colour, and I am deeply sorry. I condemn racial injustice in any form. I promise to be part of the solution and to listen to the concerns of all members of our community. I stand with you, in love and respect."
Mr Chambers suggested if the school must be named after someone, it be named "for the people who fought for abolition," including the state's first Black governor PBS Pinchback.
"Honour the right people on the right side of history," he said.
Other board members have also criticised Ms Bernard following the meeting.
After Mr Chambers's video was widely shared, board member Dadrius Lanus, who had proposed the name change, said: "You had every opportunity to apologise during the board meeting but instead you chose to shop for dresses while members from our community, including parents and teachers, waited 7 hours to speak on an item that concerns our students!
"That same video has now gone viral and has been seen by over 2 million people all over the world," he said. "Think about how this makes our city and parish look! Had this been myself or any other black board member there is no question we would been off the board 2 years ago! If it were a teacher or support worker they would have been fired immediately so why should she receive special treatment!?"
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