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Opinion: It's time to rename Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown
Opinion // Outlook

Opinion: It's time to rename Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown

By Shane T. Stansbury
FILE--In this Dec. 20, 2018, file photo the 1935 statue of Robert E. Lee, by sculptor Alexander Phimister, sits in storage at Hensley Field, the former Naval Air Station on the west side of Mountain Creek Lake in Dallas. Dallas City Council Wednesday, May 22, 2019 declared the statue surplus property and offered to sell it for a minimum $450,000, what it cost to move the bronze artwork from public view. The statue was removed from a park in September 2017 and put in storage and has been appraised at $950,000, which Dallas authorities say could pay for removal of the city's Confederate War Memorial.(Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News via AP, File)
FILE--In this Dec. 20, 2018, file photo the 1935 statue of Robert E. Lee, by sculptor Alexander Phimister, sits in storage at Hensley Field, the former Naval Air Station on the west side of Mountain Creek Lake in Dallas. Dallas City Council Wednesday, May 22, 2019 declared the statue surplus property and offered to sell it for a minimum $450,000, what it cost to move the bronze artwork from public view. The statue was removed from a park in September 2017 and put in storage and has been appraised at $950,000, which Dallas authorities say could pay for removal of the city's Confederate War Memorial.(Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News via AP, File)
Photo: Ashley Landis, Associated Press

Four years ago, Houston Independent School District voted to rename Robert E. Lee High School and other schools named after Confederate loyalists. Now, following George Floyd’s tragic death and as part of a long-overdue conversation about systemic racism, communities around the country are reexamining the names of their own institutions.

Unfortunately, another Houston-area school — Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown — remains anchored in the past.

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Lee High School, formerly Robert E. Lee High School, 6529 Beverly Hill St. Friday, July 3, 2015, in Houston, Texas.
Lee High School, formerly Robert E. Lee High School, 6529 Beverly Hill St. Friday, July 3, 2015, in Houston, Texas.
Photo: Gary Coronado, Staff

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