Organizers seek to change Lee County, Florida, to Bruce Lee County
A new petition is hoping to change the narrative behind the county, dropping Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in favor of the iconic martial artist.
A new Change.org petition is seeking to rebrand Lee County in southwest Florida to Bruce Lee County.
In an effort to “eradicate” racism in both Florida and across the country, a local arts organization is calling for the rebrand instead of a complete name change to minimize the costs, while still changing the narrative behind the county’s namesake.
“I’m not a fan of living in Robert E. Lee County. It doesn’t make me proud,” said Brian Weaver, owner of the Florida-based organization Artsemble Underground, which started the petition last month.
In the petition, the group of artists said they chose Bruce Lee, to replace Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, as the county namesake because of his impact as a leading actor, martial artist and pop culture icon of his time.
“He is credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films,” the petition reads. “We are not trying to change our past, we are trying to improve our future, and what better way than [to] use an inspiring, positive influential figure as our namesake.”
Lee County was originally named in 1887 at the behest of prominent Fort Myers citizens and Confederate Capt. Francis Hendry. Hendry was a fan of the controversial general, who, over time, was transformed into a pillar of the South, despite being responsible for hundreds of thousands of American deaths during the Civil War. And at one point, Robert Lee’s family owned hundreds of enslaved people.
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