Bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest removed from TN State Capitol

[MikeW]

Bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest removed from state capitol in chains - Nashville Local News - Fwix

Bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest removed from state capitol in chains

by Christian Grantham - 12:10 pm - January 6th, 2010

The bust of prominent founding member of the Ku Klux Klan Nathan Bedford Forrest was removed from Tennessee’s State Capitol today to make way for the bust of the state’s first African American legislator Sampson Keeble.

At least one unnamed lawmaker protested moving the bust of the Civil War Confederate Lt. General whose name and presence on public buildings and parks has long been a source of racial tension.

In the 1960s, the state legislature struck Forrest’s birthday from state calendars. Middle Tennessee State University removed a commemorative plaque honoring him on the University Center in the 1990s. The state still issues official proclamations on Nathan Bedford Forrest Day every July 13 to honor his birthday.

Keeble served as the first African American lawmaker in Tennessee in 1872

In November 1872, riding the coat-tails of a sizeable popular vote for President Grant, Sampson W. Keeble, who was listed on the Radical ticket along with Philip Lindsley and James W. Ready, was narrowly elected to serve as Republican representative of Davidson County to the 38th Tennessee General Assembly, which convened on January 6, 1873. Grant was enormously popular among black voters, so Keeble picked up those votes, but he certainly won a number of white votes as well, from people who found his moderate political stance acceptable. Keeble was the first African American to serve as a member of the state legislature . . . and the last for some time – it would be eight years before another African American member was elected.

Progress...out with the old

[dats82]

What a bunch of . I guess it is okay to remember history as long as it is only for the minority or after the Civil War. I cannot believe there was only one person protesting this. I am not racist or have anything against whoever the new guy is, but I think it is rediculous to remove Forrest to put the new one up. All this PC junk is really going to have to end some where.

[Mark@Sea]

This sort of thing used to be very common - in Stalins' time.

[Guest mustangdave]

Stand by for more of this to come....the wussifcation continues

[BryanP]

Why is it PC to remove a statue of a Klansman?

(and in the case of anyone associated with the Klan I use the word "man" only loosely)

[Kelemvor]

Stand by for more of this to come....the wussifcation continues

Yeah, REAL MEN love the Klan.

[molonlabetn]

I don't see them removing busts of Andrew Jackson, even though he was the president who implemented the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which led to the Trail of Tears, as we know it...

It's the selectiveness of such acts which makes this PC, and thus total BS. I don't care for the Klan any more than I do the Black Panthers, etc... I just would rather that history be remembered completely, and without bias, for both the good that was done and the evil, without attempting to white*wash it. Removing a bust makes no difference to me, honestly... but the reason does, even if the guy was a total racist douche.

*or insert your favorite shade.

[Guest TurboniumOxide]

The klansman should have been removed and that should have been it. After all. racist bigots and bullies ( like the klan and panthers and others ) should be shunned.

The problem is that the balance has now been swung not upright, but to the other side in a blatant and frankly embarrassing act of appeasement. A petty and condescending flattery. The first black man to do something isn't necessarily the best black man to do something, and aren't we all supposed to be equal now, POST RACIAL?

The world needs to be straight up, true, fair for all. The problem is that a segment of society is not happy being equal, they want their equal time on top. Civil war lies down that road.

[Guest malbolja]

Revisionist history at it's most disgusting. It's also disturbing how many people only remember one fact from NBF's entire life.

[Guest m14man]

read up on him before you make a decision, they left out that he also disbanded the kkk, called for no violence and i believed he was remebered because of his leadership and skill as a commander.people like to only concentrate on one thing, he never admitted being a member and it was a long time ago, they werent violent to begin with and we have no need for the kkk but here is a excerpt of what he thought about racial issues

Forrest's personal sentiments on the issue of race, however, were quite different from that of the Klan. Forrest was invited and gave a speech to organization of black Southerners called the "Jubilee of Pole-Bearers" in 1875. In this speech, Forrest espoused a radically progressive (for the time) agenda of equality and harmony between black and white Americans. [41]

At this, his last public appearance, he made what the New York Times described as a "friendly speech"[6] in which he called for reconciliation between the races and called for the admission of blacks into the professional classes from which they had heretofore been excluded.

he also had an all black personal body gaurd and he kissed a black woman on stage in memphis in front of hundreds of people, atleast according to his biography.

Edited January 6, 2010 by m14man

[bockey]

I vote for a statue of Ted Nugent

[Guest m14man]

I vote for a statue of Ted Nugent

i second that haha

[Guest SUNTZU]

read up on him before you make a decision, they left out that he also disbanded the kkk, called for no violence and i believed he was remebered because of his leadership and skill as a commander.people like to only concentrate on one thing, he never admitted being a member and it was a long time ago, they werent violent to begin with and we have no need for the kkk but her is a excerpt of what he thought about racial issues

Forrest's personal sentiments on the issue of race, however, were quite different from that of the Klan. Forrest was invited and gave a speech to organization of black Southerners called the "Jubilee of Pole-Bearers" in 1875. In this speech, Forrest espoused a radically progressive (for the time) agenda of equality and harmony between black and white Americans. [41]

At this, his last public appearance, he made what the New York Times described as a "friendly speech"[6] in which he called for reconciliation between the races and called for the admission of blacks into the professional classes from which they had heretofore been excluded.

he also had an all black personal body gaurd and he kissed a black woman on stage in memphis in front of hundreds of people, atleast according to his biography.

But you won't learn that in today's classroom.

Good post.

[MikeW]

But you won't learn that in today's classroom.

Good post.

Sad but True

[Mike.357]

why does this not suprise me?

did I miss it somewhere, but what is to happen to his bust?

[Guest Major Pain]

Maybe they'll move it to Benton Co. since we have NBF state park.--MP

[Oh Shoot]

why does this not suprise me?

did I miss it somewhere, but what is to happen to his bust?

Sell it to David Duke?

Donate it to Pulaski Tourist Board?

Trivia: did y'all know that the KKK state plaque on the building in Pulaski where KKK started is bolted to the wall BLANK SIDE OUT?

Really.

- OS

[MikeW]

why does this not suprise me?

did I miss it somewhere, but what is to happen to his bust?

craigslist?

[dats82]

Thank you m14man. People do not understand or conveniently forget that the klan NBF started is not klan as it is today. Either way, more wasted money and belly aching because someone's granddaddy's granddaddy's daddy suffered injustice.

[Guest Jamie]

did I miss it somewhere, but what is to happen to his bust?

Maybe they'll move it to the new "bunker" at the governor's mansion...

J.

[Smith]

Guys come on. We are more progressive, wiser, more tolerant, and far more intelligent than those people in the past. How could they have known honoring such a person was just pure ignorance. We have grown far past them.

The arrogance of PC is so ignorant. It's like the kid in school that is always trying to prove how cool he is. The more he tries the more uncool he is.

[Guest clownsdd]

History now reports what the majority wants....see where we are heading?

[MikeW]

Click the link for the guys blog update:

UPDATE 2:00pm: I just got word that the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest was not removed, but moved closer to the Senate to make room for the addition of Keeble’s bust. I’m still waiting on a call from the Tennessee State Library.

UPDATE 2:51pm: The Tennessee State Library called with a wealth of information. The bust movements are done under the auspices of the state’s Capitol Commission. Forrest’s bust was moved one niche to the right into a more prominent spot while a bust of President Johnson was moved to Forrest’s old spot from an area where lobbyists hang out.

Forrest’s bust used to be the first thing you saw when you exited the House, angering many black legislators. A smaller bust of Governor John Sevier was moved into a collection of former Governors.

The bust of Keebler was placed in Gov. John Sevier’s old niche and will remain covered until an official unveiling in February. It cost $35,000 to create from funds appropriated by the legislature about two years ago.

[leroy]

This sort of thing used to be very common - in Stalins' time.

Mark's quote is a great truth!!

The bust of prominent founding member of the Ku Klux Klan Nathan Bedford Forrest was removed from Tennessee’s State Capitol today to make way for the bust of the state’s first African American legislator Sampson Keeble.

This action is typical of the enforced "politically correct" view of history that many slavisly adhere to. I would expect this out of Bredesen. The shame is that the legislature seems to be content to let it happen.

Nathan Bedford Forrest was one of the greatest generals of the civil war. He is a great american. Many would do well to take the time to study the man, his beliefs, and his accomplishments. When he decided that the southern cause was lost; he simply disbanded his forces and sent them home to rebuild their homes. He was never captured or defeated; he simply quit and went home. I am not sure he ever officially took the "official" oath to the Union required by the Reconstruction crowd. He single handedly kept Tennessee from being ravaged by a Military Governor (Tennesse was the only confederate state that did not have a military governor) and kept the rabid unionist governor "Parson" Brownlow from implementing many of the more heinous of the post -reconstruction policies by his simple words of warning:

" ... If Brownlow imposes a tenth of the legislative policies he has proposed to punish the people of the State of Tennessee, I will go to Nashville and shoot him personally. .."

Brownlow took Forrest's pronouncements at face value. Many of those policies were not implemented. He was the only confederate general that W.T. Sherman really feared. One of Sherman's greatest quotes was: "... Is Forrest really dead?!!..." as Sherman's aides routinely reported (It seems he wasn't). It was the opinion of many military lecturers and authors in Europe that N. B. Forrest was the greatest tactician to come out of the civil war. That was not the case in america (Remember, the winners always write the "official" history of war).

Nathan Bedford Forrest was tried in the Reconstruction Federal Courts at the behest of several prominent northern state Radical Republicans for alleged war crimes and found innocent. That has not prevented a long line of history revisionists, the "politically correct" police (Like the Southern Policy Leadership Council, NAACP, People for the American Way, etc.), and this current crop of foolish "dont offend anyone" crowd of sickening politicos from malignigning this man's character, reputation, and greatness to the point that, to many, he has become not a hero; but a scourge for the people of Tennessee to be ashamed of -- nothing could be further from the truth. This smear campaign started in 1865 and has continued to this day; over 145 years. Quite a campaign.

Nathan Bedford Forrest was, and still remains, one of the greatest sons of the State of Tennessee, a great leader, and a genuine hero. It is to the shame of the state and this current crop of sickening bureaucrats and polititions who worship the god of "political correctness" that this can be done. This action is nothing more than revisiting the old Radical Republican Reconstruction Civil War policies on this state. Most folks just dont understand it as such; they foolishly believe that it is tolerance for the views of a minority. This action lessens the character and traditions of the State of Tennesse.

Remember, as Mark has so succently pointed out, they used to do a lot of that kind of stuff in Russia during Stalin and Kruschev's time.

You know, they COULD HAVE put the bust of Samson Keeble next to the one of Forrest; they simply chose not to.

By the way... for those of you who didn't know.. N. B. Forrest resigned from the KKK and advised others to do likewise. Betcha didn't read that in your kids current college history book.

Thats how i see things.

LEROY

Edited January 6, 2010 by leroy
minor grammatical clean up

[Will Carry]

Robert E. Lee was asked after the war which general north or south was, in his opinion, the best. Mars Lee said, "It is a man I have never met. His name is Forest."

The yankees called him the devil. Sherman, the pyromaniac, said he wanted Forest dead if it took 10,000 men and broke the federal bank.

Forest once consoled General Stephen Lee after he got his ass kicked. "Don't feel bad general, if I had me a West Point education, the yankees would be whoppin' me all the time."

With out a doubt, the best cavalry commander to ever ride a horse. Erwin Rommel and George Patton both studied Forest.........