Posted on 06/29/2015 3:10:55 PM PDT by bestintxas
Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. announced a proposal last week to remove the statue and grave sites of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife.
“These relics, these messages of this despicable period of this great nation, it’s time for those to be moved,” the Democratic mayor, who is black, said in a news conference, a local NBC affiliate reported.
Mr. Wharton told The Associated Press that he wants the statue removed from Health Sciences Park and “returned to Forrest Monument Association that had it placed there.” He said the graves of the noted KKK leader and his wife, which are in the park, should be relocated to Elmwood Cemetery.
“I despise whatever the Confederacy stood for,” Mr. Wharton said. “This is not just an ordinary monument. This is a monument to a man who was the avowed founder of the organization that has as its purpose the intimidation, the oppression of black folks.”
Councilman Myron Lowery said he is in discussion with Council Attorney Allan Wade to draw up an ordinance to move the proposal along, NBC reported.
Councilman Harold Collins and Councilman Jim Strickland are running for Memphis mayor against Mr. Wharton, but reportedly support the mayor’s proposal.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans said Forrest was a “revered member of society in Memphis” and argued that racists like the alleged Charleston church shooter are misusing the Confederate flag, NBC reported.
“He was just a nut case basically and a white supremacist,” representative Lee Millar said of the alleged gunman. “That certainly is not what the Sons of Confederate Veterans is about.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Then I guess he'll be switching parties. Southern dignity aside (which this Northerner wholeheartedly supports), the Confederacy itself was a Democrat Party invention.
My great great grandfather was also a Confederate soldier at Shiloh. I’m sick of history being rewritten. My ancestor is peacefully safely buried; but not if this bunch manages to get in totalitarian power.
It’s truly amazing to watch folks jump on the bank-wagon trying to gain the most from exploiting this situation.
Pathetic.
To #14 about “Robert Byrd”.
LUV IT! Dig’em up, move’em out, rawhide!
The mayor of one of the most dangerous cities in the USA has his panties in a wad over a grave and statue.
How about moving Teddy Kennedy’s grave to Murders’ Row at some prison? He was a killer, you know.
Remove all statues of Karl Marx and/or Lenin or Ho Chi Minh, or Castro/Che in the US and ban their appearance on T-shirts, car license plates (Md and Va have a couple), and MTV.
One of my great-grandfathers was also a Confederate cavalryman. His cousin rode with Forrest and was killed in 1862.
“How about “Sheets” Byrds’ grave???
Wherever it is, shouldn’t they exhume him and toss him into the middle of the Atlantic too???”
Hey! We don’t want to pollute the whole Atlantic Ocean with that piece of excrement!
The way the cowardly corporations are going, pretty soon Netflix will ban any showing of Forrest Gump, namesake of the general.
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