Congregants turn on Lee descendant
Pastor quits post in wake of church reaction to VMA speech against racism
He was the great-greatgreat-great-nephew of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and he felt it was his moral duty to speak out against his ancestor, “an idol of white supremacy, racism and hate.” He said as much when he took the microphone near the end of the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, when he introduced himself by a familiarsounding name: Robert Lee IV.
Lee’s speech at the VMAs on Aug. 27 quickly caught internet fame as among the night’s most memorable events. As he appeared before the cameras, Lee stood in stark contrast to the sleek, geometric set behind him, dressed simply in a black cleric’s shirt and collar. Soon he would introduce Susan Bro, whose daughter Heather Heyer had been killed 15 days before, after being struck by a car as she protested white supremacy in Charlottesville, Va.
“As a pastor, it is my moral duty to speak out against racism, America’s original sin,” he said. “Today, I call on all of us with privilege and power to answer God’s call to confront racism and white supremacy head-on. We can find inspiration in the Black Lives Matter movement, the women who marched in the Women’s March in January, and, especially, Heather Heyer, who died fighting for her beliefs.”
Last week, Lee announced he would be leaving his church — Bethany United Church of Christ in Winston-Salem, N.C. — after speaking out against white supremacy and the idolization of Confederate monuments.
In his statement, published on the website of the Auburn Theological Seminary, Lee wrote that while he did have congregants who supported his freedom of speech, many resented the attention the church received after the VMAs.
“A faction of church members were concerned about my speech and that I lifted up (the) Black Lives Matter movement, the Women’s March, and Heather Heyer as examples of racial justice work,” he wrote, adding that his “church’s reaction was deeply hurtful.”
In an Aug. 18 interview with BBC News, Lee argued that statues of his ancestor honor white supremacy and endorse a system in which it is acceptable to be racist in America.