Tennessee Republicans Rally To Preserve Statue & Holiday For KKK Founder

[Celerity]

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee resisted a push from protesters and their Democratic colleagues to eliminate a holiday for Confederate general and KKK Founder Nathan Bedford Forrest and remove a bust of him from the State Capitol, which one black lawmaker compared to a bust of Hitler.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/06/10/tennessee-republicans-rally-to-preserve-statue--holiday-for-kkk-founder/#5ef1aa6d71f7


KEY FACTS

Protests against racism have erupted around the country in response to the death of George Floyd, leading to the removal, or planned removal, of statues and other memorials commemorating Confederate figures in several states. Protesters gathered in front of the Tennessee State Capitol on Wednesday calling for the removal of a bust of Forrest in the Capitol after a state House committee voted down a measure that would’ve done just that.

The Naming, Designating & Private Acts committee rejected a resolution, introduced in January, to remove the statue on Tuesday, with every Democrat on the committee voting to remove it and all but one Republican voting for it to remain.

Republican Governor Bill Lee, who had previously spoken out against removing the statue, said on Wednesday, “something should be done there” and that there is “a need for greater dialogue,” but stopped short of calling for its removal. Republican lawmakers also voted Wednesday to preserve Nathan Bedford Forrest Day while relieving Lee of the burden of making a public proclamation, which he has been criticized for in the past.

CHIEF CRITIC

State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Democrat, tweeted on Tuesday that Forrest was “one of the most vile, sadistic men to ever be born on American soil,” noting that he, “massacred thousands of people. In one case, mostly women and children.” “What if everyday you walked into the house or Senate chambers and you saw a bust of Hitler before you entered,” he concluded. “That sickness in the pit of your stomach that you're feeling right now... that's what we feel everytime we (African Americans) enter the capitol of Tennessee.”

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

snip

[Alacritous Crier]

1. Their days are numbered anyway...

[Dagstead Bumwood]

2. Of course they did. n/t

[Lars39]

3. There's also a TN state park named after him.

[spanone]

4. K&R

[electric_blue68]

5. Yeah, but still...

...every black person as gov't employee, those coming to talk to their various representatives, meeting people they know there ..

...is probably like from a gut punch to a real nasty pinch (to those who try to steel themselves to it previously) every working day or visit!

[TreadSoftly]

6. Basically they are trying to make the annual proclamation signing optional

...and not touch statues or park naming.

This "optional proclamation" is NOT what was proposed originally, when Beto started this nationally.

Time to write to my legislatures again. They have been dragging their cumulative feet all year.

I hope we get such a turnout on voting day that we can remove all of bedford -- statues, proclamations, and state park!

The "imagine a hitler statue" musing is exactly what I wrote to my sister the other day.

Thanks for letting me vent. Please vote!

[Celerity]

7. Rump could order a Hitler statue erected in DC and most of his base would squeal with delight.

NOT joking.