SAN ANTONIO – A cabinet-level Obama administration official is weighing in on the debate over the Confederate flag that was ignited recently by a deadly, racially motivated church shooting in South Carolina.

Left-wing activists and their cohorts have pressured schools and other public entities to remove all traces of the Old South after 21-year-old Dylann Roof allegedly opened fire on a bible study group at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston while yelling racial epithets.

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Dylann’s Facebook page showed he was a fan of the Confederate flag, and posed with it leading up to the June 17 massacre that left nine black men and women dead.

In San Antonio, some want to rename the local Robert E. Lee High School, and Obama’s Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro offered his two cents on the debate earlier this week, KENS 5 reports.

“Glad to see this. In San Antonio, North East ISD should call together a group of board members, students and community members to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School as well.” Castro, a former mayor of San Antonio, posted to Facebook.

The post was in reference to a Bloomberg.com article about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell call for the removal of a Jefferson Davis statute from the Kentucky Capitol.

“There are other, more appropriate individuals to honor and spotlight as role models for our young people,” Castro wrote.

Castro is rumored to be a possible vice presidential candidate in 2016.

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While some surely support his view, others have been quick to point out why it’s such a bad idea.

San Antonio Express-News columnist Gilbert Garcia explained why Castro and others calling to remove all traces of the Confederacy might want to think it over a little more.

Garcia wrote:

Like many of his peers, Lee had a stance on slavery that was conflicted and complex. He initially opposed secession, and wrote — five years before the onset of the Civil War — that slavery was “a moral and political evil.” On the other hand, he willingly participated in that evil.

It’s a contradictory position shared by the namesake of Castro’s alma mater, Thomas Jefferson High School, who owned 175 slaves at the time he was writing the Declaration of Independence. Castro, however, made no mention of his old school’s name in the Facebook post.

Given that Castro is troubled by the presence of Lee’s name on a San Antonio public school, I would guess that he’s also disturbed by the fact that James Bowie Elementary School and Bowie Street are named after a slave trader who illegally smuggled African Americans from Texas (which was not yet a part of the United States) to Louisiana, and sold them into servitude.

I’m sure he also wants us to rid our city of any mention of William Travis, another Alamo legend who was a slave owner. That means we need to find new names for Travis Park, Travis Street and Travis Early College High School.

Given his take on Lee High School, Castro must also support the renaming of at least 10 United States military bases named after Confederate generals, including this state’s Fort Hood, which honored the memory of John Bell Hood.

While we’re at it, we should also look long and hard at Garner Middle School, since its namesake, John Nance Garner, voted for a poll tax to suppress minority voting while he was a Texas state representative.

And then there’s the issue of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, which wouldn’t exist if family patriarch William Gerard Tobin hadn’t moved to San Antonio in the 1850s. Tobin later served as a captain in the Confederate Army.

In 1991, Lee school officials banned a Confederate flag patch worn for years by the football team. The district has also renamed schools in the past, notably the former Jefferson Davis Middle School, which was changed to Stonewall Jackson Davis Elementary after residents alleged the former namesake sent the wrong message about slavery.

But North East Independent School District spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor told Garcia officials don’t have plans to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School any time soon.

“We were surprised to see the social-media post (from Castro),” said Aubrey Chancellor, spokeswoman for NEISD. “We have not heard from any community members, parents, students, anyone at all, asking for a name change. In fact, since news of the comment came out, I’ve actually heard from numerous alums of Lee High School who are adamantly opposed to changing the name.”

“Robert E. Lee was much more than just the general of the Confederate Army,” she told KENS 5. “He was a scholar and above all an educator. We really think he is a great example.”