I'm all for conversations and thinking things through.
I'm not exactly clear about how Lee is part of New Orleans history, other than being a general of the confederacy.  How does a statue of a Confederate general make a southern city culturally distinct?  
I find it curious that there are so many statues to Confederate generals, hero-worshiping men who led what was a war of rebellion against the US.  IN most countries, those men would be seen as traitors.  Yet, in the South, they are heroes.  Since this was was about the right to continue enslaving Black people, this fact says much about the South -- and nothing very good.