Many Americans have been beginning a conversation about our nation’s living wounds. It's clear that too many are ignorant of our country’s history. And this past week has shown that a small minority of white nationalists are increasingly comfortable with publicly stirring up the worst aspects in American society by pitting Americans against each other. To these white nationalists, Robert E. Lee represents their deep commitment to racial hierarchy. When three of his slaves escaped, Lee whipped them and had their backs washed with stinging brine. Lee ordered his Confederate soldiers to respect white property, but declared that any black people they encountered -- regardless of their previous ‘status’ -- were to be seized and returned to the South to be sold into slavery. At the Battle of the Crater, Lee’s Army even killed black prisoners of war. This is the history we honor when we name our school after Robert E. Lee -- and why white nationalists felt so threatened by the removal of his statue in Charlottesville. We must understand the stakes too. Arlington should not shy away from taking a clear stand on this issue. It's up to our civic leaders and institutions to take steps toward reconciling and repairing our nation's living wounds where we can make a difference. Washington-Lee High School should be renamed in order to emphatically reject the doctrine of white supremacy and so that we can move toward creating a school, county and country that truly belongs to all who call it home. If the President of the United States is unwilling to provide the leadership our country needs, then we must provide it ourselves. The story of our nation has always been a struggle over who America belongs to: the chosen few, or all of us? This is what is at stake when we honor the leaders of the Confederacy. Which side of that struggle will we honor? Germans don't honor Nazi soldiers; South Africans don't honor those who held up Apartheid. But Americans still honor Robert E. Lee and countless other Confederates who raised up a new flag and started a rebellion against the United States of America. Why? Let's take concrete steps toward living up to our best traditions and creating a nation where we all feel like we belong and where "We, the People" includes all of us. This is our historic responsibility as Americans in this moment in our history. Rename Washington-Lee High School.

Update: Trump has spent his morning tweeting praise to Confederate memorials as being beautiful. Let's be clear, Trump is speaking of white supremacy when he praises the "culture" of men who committed treason against the United States in order to continue a society based upon enslaving Black men, women, and children. Trump is desperately tweeting because he sees the writing on the wall: these symbols of hate are coming down across the country. Senator Cory Booker just announced that he is introducing a resolution to meet our demands: removing all Confederate statues from the US Capitol. Join us in pushing back against Trump's open advocacy for white supremacy and support Senator Booker's resolution to remove these Confederate statues from the United States Capitol Hill Statuary Hall. Sign my petition today. Below you will find my original message: Following the acts of white supremacist terrorism in Charlottesville, congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle made statements condemning the violence. Paul Ryan wrote, "The views fueling the spectacle in Charlottesville are repugnant. Let it only serve to unite Americans against this kind of vile bigotry," and Ted Cruz wrote in a statement "...white supremacists are repulsive and evil, and all of us have a moral obligation to speak out against the lies, bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred that they propagate." These words ring hollow when Confederate leaders are enshrined with honor in the statuary hall at the US Capitol. Men who committed treason against the United States to keep Black people enslaved should not be in the most hallowed halls of government. Join us and tell members of Congress to remove the Confederates from the Capitol. Thousands of white supremacists gather across the country and commit violent acts of terror and intimidation in the name of these Confederate symbols. These people have been emboldened by Trump who continues to promote racism and signal his approval to white supremacists. While Trump has inflamed these white supremacists, the statues honoring Confederates in the halls of the United States Congress are proof that white nationalism has long needed to be confronted in America. Together we can help kick the Confederates out of the Capitol and send a strong message to white nationalists and Trump. After the terrorism of Charlottesville, we can no longer silently allow the Confederacy and its cause to keep Black Americans enslaved to be honored in the halls of Congress.

Imagine you have worked tirelessly for the creation of a Mississippi Civil Rights Museum for decades and it's finally opening. Imagine you are being honored for your decades of civil rights work, an honor that is long overdue. Imagine that the governor has the audacity to suggest you sit onstage with a President who believes Nazi protesters are "very fine people." Imagine being forced to sit through his bungled speech full of lies and racist language. Close your eyes and picture Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer or Dr. Martin Luther King sitting on stage with Donald Trump. Can you imagine their innermost thoughts? Their level of gut twisting anguish? We can not allow this to happen. Inviting the President to the opening of Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is an insult and affront to those being honored. These heroes fought against hate and for justice and equity in our state. Their families and friends gave their lives in dedication to their belief in equality. Within the walls of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the heroes of a generation are being honored. Heroes who gave their all to further racial progress in Mississippi and our country at large. Fannie Lou Hamer, Hollis Watkins, Jimmie Travis, and many more were beaten and jailed. Many more, men like Vernon Dahmer, Medgar Evers, and Wharlest Jackson lost their lives. Hundreds of everyday people were a part of the historic work that lives on today. They deserve to be honored. The next generation must have a place to preserve this history. To invite a man like Donald Trump to speak, when these icons and forgotten everyday heroes are being honored can only be seen as a classic white supremacy power move akin to raising confederate statues in the city square after reconstruction. Allowing this President to overshadow those who fight for equity and justice screams "Yes, you can have this museum but men like us will always control things." Time and time again, Donald Trump has failed to respect and honor people of color, exhibiting a special disrespect for black people. His political career was built on disrespecting and insulting our first African American President, Barack Obama. From his tone deaf visit to the National African American History Museum to engaging in racist rhetoric while honoring Native American veterans he has repeatedly proven he can not be trusted in people of color centered spaces. Donald Trump demands the attention be on him, distracting from the sacred spaces he has the privilege of occupying. He is supported by many racist groups including the KKK, neo-nazis and white nationalists. All of which show up to support him when he makes appearances. They have no place here. Why would Mississippians want to encourage this bigotry by inviting this man to such a momentous occasion? President Trump's record on human rights, racial justice and equity should, most definitely, exclude him from being included in this opening. Donald Trump should not be who Mississippi wants to be. His ideas are vestiges of the past. He isn't representative of where those of us united for a better Mississippi want to go. Governor Phil Bryant needs to make this right and rescind the invitation he made to President Trump immediately.

On Saturday, August 12th, white nationalists marched through Charlottesville, communities and the University of Virginia campus, rallying around a statue of the Confederacy and carrying torches evoking a history of violent racial terrorism. The next day in Charlottesville they killed in the name of their white supremacist symbols. Protesters were rammed by a car killing someone in a terrorist attack. These symbols were not chosen randomly. Confederate monuments have been erected and remain as a direct rebuke to the recognition of the full humanity of Black people. Confederate monuments were built and given places of honor in public space as gains in this recognition have been made and it is the commitment to the reversal of this recognition of humanity that draws white nationalists to these symbols. These symbols of white supremacy have always been memorials to the cause of slavery and the denial of humanity to Black people. Now they are being weaponized to rally white supremacists. We have the power to diffuse these modern-day lynch mobs by removing these statues altogether, instead of giving white supremacists a rally point. Confederate statues and named institutions are more than mere symbols of a heritage but instead, they are an assertion of the continued imposition of white supremacy and its current political power. Terrorists in Charlottesville understood this and were willing to kill in the name of this, we must be determined to persist in the face of this white supremacist terror. Removing all Confederate statues would be one step among many in sending the message that we are no longer honoring white supremacy at a societal level. We've already many communities take the step to address these monuments in cities like Tampa and New Orleans. Join with me today and pledge to work to remove all Confederate statues or names from our community.