After leading the most violent war against the US in history, Confederate general Robert E Lee wasn’t arrested or jailed. He became president of Washington College in KY where he worked to “create a new generation of Americans” and advocated to deny voting rights to black people.
White supremacists who went to war with the US to keep millions of black people enslaved were granted full Amnesty and Pardon by President Andrew Johnson in 1865. Fully amnesty and pardon. Lee got to apply for full restoration. Then... politico.com/story/2018/07/…
Robert E Lee applied but died before it was granted. Then in 1975, President Gerald Ford officially granted his citizenship, it passed Congress 407-10. Pres Ford said Robert E Lee “stood as the symbol of valor and duty” and was “an example to succeeding generations.” Wild.
Washington College in Lexington, *Virginia*. (There are a lot of Lexingtons).
Consider the current conversation about citizenship, where people of color are denied citizenship and depicted as threats. But the US granted full amnesty and pardon to white supremacists who killed hundreds of thousands(+many continued white supremacist terorrism after the war).
This is one of (if not the) largest restoration of voting rights ever - full restoration for white people, many who had committed treason. Rights restored, immediately. Today, Black people in these *same states* are being denied voting rights restoration over a $200 court charge.
