The memorials aggrandizing Lee are a personal issue for me. I'm a Lee.

[zipplewrath]

1. Yes and no.

Anyone wants to truly look back and you'll find some less than admirable history. Furthermore, although we tend to describe western European ancestors as "settlers" or "immigrants", it is inescapable that in many ways they were "invaders". In my own Irish/German heritage, it is hard to avoid things such as the Tammany Hall connection to Irish immigration. And on the New Orleans docks, klanish Irish immigrants physically beat up working African Americans in order to replace them with Irish workers.

In the end, it is what "white privilege" is all about. We may have been "created equal", but we all start out with advantages and disadvantages of which we may be unaware. Regardless of whether you are specifically aware of unearned advantages, it is best to presume one has some and always work for social and economic justice in the ways you are able.

Republicans wake up every morning desperately worried that someone, somewhere is getting something they don't deserve.

Democrats wake up every morning desperately worried that someone, somewhere isn't getting something they need.