MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It’s starting to appear as if it’s easier to move Christmas to July than to move one offensive monument from the Tennessee state capitol. After months of wrangling, bitter protests and laborious meetings, the state Historical Commission finally voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to move the bust of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest from the capitol to the Tennessee state museum. The vote was 25 to 1.
But this modern-day civil war is still not over, because the top two leaders in the legislature want to continue fighting a lost cause. Senate speaker Randy McNally and House speaker Cameron Sexton are resisting calls to remove the bust until they get an attorney general’s opinion about who has the ultimate authority to decide the matter – the historical commission or the legislature.
So once again, we have a couple of white conservative lawmakers thumbing their noses at the legitimate conclusion that the Forrest bust does not deserve such a place of honor inside the capitol. Not only was he a slave trader who led the brutal assault on surrendering Black soldiers during the Civil War – but Forrest was an early leader in the Ku Klux Klan - and no amount of spin will change his awful past.
Despite numerous delays, the historical commission did the right thing, and these two pandering lawmakers should allow the capitol to move past racism and hate. And that’s my point of view.