Memphis Mayor Wants To Dig up the Grave of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest

[AuH20]

Who was the poster who predicted this two days ago?

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/memphis-mayor-wants-to-dig-up-dead-confederate-war-general.html


Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton wants to dig up the bodies of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife and remove them from a city park in the latest and perhaps most despicable example of the anti-Southern cleansing spreading across the nation.

“Which African-American wants to have a picnic in the shadow of Nathan Bedford Forrest?” Wharton said in a Thursday press briefing.

In addition to desecrating the graves, Wharton wants to tear down a massive statue honoring the Confederate general who was involved in organizing the Ku Klux Klan. The bodies of Forrest and his wife would be relocated to a cemetery.

“These relics, these messages of this despicable period of this great nation, it’s time for those to be moved,” the mayor said.

[tod evans]

Memphis is a shithole.....

I don't even like driving through it to visit friends down South.......

[fisharmor]

Good.

Erase it all. Obliterate the war from the public consciousness altogether.

That is a far better starting position for meaningful change than what we have now.
They've poisoned the secession well for 150 years. Let them voluntarily start adding fresh water.

[AuH20]

Memphis is a shithole.....

I don't even like driving through it to visit friends down South.......

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/54/b7/8e/54b78e41e5b3cd1e07fa8515da356f28.jpg

[specsaregood]

//

[Ronin Truth]

Yep, go ahead, dig him up and then just kill him several more times. That really ought to take care of it. GRRRRR!

[AuH20]

Time to rewrite the song for today's events....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTVbf44HMkY

[Mr.NoSmile]

In addition to desecrating the graves, Wharton wants to tear down a massive statue honoring the Confederate general who was involved in organizing the Ku Klux Klan.

Damn it, why do people keep saying that? He neither organized nor played any part in its founding. He was granted control when it started spreading, but he did not organize it. Little details like that irk me.

[NewRightLibertarian]

Same agenda as ISIS

[tod evans]

Good point, Gen. Forrest probably approves of this plan.

Which plan is that?

[specsaregood]

//

[AuH20]

The real irony is that Forrest donated the land to the city. Now they want to dig up his remains....

[Ronin Truth]

The real irony is that Forrest donated the land to the city. Now they want to dig up his remains....

No good deed goes unpunished. ;) :(

[bunklocoempire]

Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton wants to dig up the bodies of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife and remove them from a city park in the latest and perhaps most despicable example of the anti-Southern cleansing spreading across the nation.

“Which African-American wants to have a picnic in the shadow of Nathan Bedford Forrest?” Wharton said in a Thursday press briefing.

In addition to desecrating the graves, Wharton wants to tear down a massive statue honoring the Confederate general who was involved in organizing the Ku Klux Klan. The bodies of Forrest and his wife would be relocated to a cemetery.

“These relics, these messages of this despicable period of this great nation, it’s time for those to be moved,” the mayor said.

Has A.C. Wharton ever mentioned a concern about Chickasaw picnic habits?

[phill4paul]

Who was the poster who predicted this two days ago?


Booyah!


It won't be long until they call to disinter the graves of the Confederate soldiers. How dare they take up sacred American soil! Why, their very presence is an insult to the Northerners that lay beside them that fought for the express purpose of abolishing slavery! Dig them up!

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?477192-Rand-Paul-Confederate-flag-is-%93inescapably-a-symbol-of-human-bondage-and-slavery%94&p=5903529#post5903529

[Kotin]

Sounds about right for Memphis lolz

[phill4paul]

“Which African-American wants to have a picnic in the shadow of Nathan Bedford Forrest?” Wharton said in a Thursday press briefing

With only 166 other public parks in Memphis to choose from I could see where this is a problem.

[Danke]

https://mayoracwharton.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/mayor-a-c-wharton.jpg

[tod evans]

What self respecting hyphenated American would eat anything at a public park in Memphis in the first place?

Fightin' off rats-n-junkies ain't my idea of a picnic.....

[amy31416]

Been to Memphis years back, walked from WC Handy park to the Lorraine Motel. It was creepy as shit, nobody around, bullet holes in apartment buildings, got panhandled constantly. Good barbecue though.

[Aratus]

FOLKS... MY BIAS IS MUCH MORE IN THE DIRECTION OF THE STATE OF FRANKLIN BUT I DO NOT CUSS OUT THE CITY AND GOOD FOLKS OF MEMPHIS.
A PROFOUND MORAL PHILOSOPHER SAID THIS ONLINE EARLIER TODAY... "the Wars of the Roses were polarized between York and Lancaster, each major House having a clear line of descent from Edward III. The English Civil War saw Cavalier and Roundhead polarized over religion and politics. Unless we all fork over monies to build his family a neat and nifty mausoleum that is nicer than their current restingplace, I say leave them be! Lets not cuss out poor politically incorrect Andrew Johnson as much as we simply accept we've finally gone as French as the French Revolutionaries of 1792. We need to be more tolerant than less, we need to not fail our young via our public and private school systems. Dylann Roof netsurfed onto Neo-Nazi hate sites, murdered nine total strangers, and then is trying to make himself into a martyr for a cause. The backlash is hitting the Dixiecrats and Democrats whose parents, grandparents or great-grandparents helped FDR achieve several political landslides."

[Pericles]

So, when every Confederate flag has been burned, every Confederate monument and memorial destroyed, and the grave of any Confederate soldier or official desecrated, the US will be free of racism, amirite?

At least the Puritans were more honest about hunting for witches.

[Aratus]

Seriously, before Oliver Cromwell's Puritans, we have Henry VIII who had many cathedrals, monasteries and churches torn down
and anything of value sold off. The Greyfriars priory site where RICHARD III was found above ground is gone. Part of the reason
for our Separation of Church and State is the sad and tragic history of England as the Reformation hit. Henry VIII's mother is the
niece of RICHARD III, he is the union of York & Lancaster due to the political deal his two grandmothers cut. Admittedly the early
Puritans of my home state were dour, draconian, "no nonsense" and severe. It was a religious and political theocracy without equal.

[tod evans]

Since flags-n-dead folks are so offensive to this mayor I've gotta assume that the mere mention of slavery is too..

Or is he maybe one of those people who think he's owed something?

One of those people who play on guilt and/or anger while screaming entitlement?

Fuck him!

[phill4paul]

I made a prediction two days ago and it has come to pass. I'll make another.

If this full court press continues there will be an equal or greater amount of tragedy.

This bullshit has led for the perfect storm for a martyr. Be it a white supremacist or a black man that follows the words of the New Panther Party.

Nothing is going to end well with this. There will be more blood. Specifically because of it.

[DFF]

If this Mayor does this, the few remaining whites in Memphis should all leave and then from afar, watch the city fall to pieces just like Detroit.

[euphemia]

Then they will come to Nashville and dig up Confederate Circle at the oldest, most historic cemetery in Middle Tennessee.

The big statue here is on private property right beside I-65S northbound between Old Hickory Boulevard and Haywood Lane. It is the ugliest thing on earth. Truly.

[Uriel999]

This shit is getting unbelievable.

[AuH20]

This shit is getting unbelievable.

It's only just starting. They will come for the 2nd amendment soon. I'd say within 5 years at least. Repeal the whole goddamn thing. And maybe that will be a good omen to get everyone's apathetic asses off the couches!

[Uriel999]

It's only just starting. They will come for the 2nd amendment soon. I'd say within 5 years at least. Repeal the whole goddamn thing. And maybe that will be a good omen to get everyone's apathetic asses off the couches!

The sooner the better. I am not getting any younger. I can still fight on the front lines in that time frame.

[oyarde]

Been to Memphis years back, walked from WC Handy park to the Lorraine Motel. It was creepy as shit, nobody around, bullet holes in apartment buildings, got panhandled constantly. Good barbecue though.

I like the music & bbq , but , yeah , downhill after that .

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

Grave desecration! Just when I thought these proglodytes couldn't get any classier!

[Brian4Liberty]

Dig them up! Time for some posthumous trials!

Let the age of Formosus begin!

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

There were black slave owners and black soldiers who willingly fought for the confederacy
Some blacks even had white indentured servants

The state also had one of the largest free black populations in the United States.Some of which, owned slaves themselves. Nicolas Augustin Metoyer of Louisiana owned 13 slaves in 1830. He and his 12 family members collectively owned 215 slaves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_in_the_American_Civil_War

[Natural Citizen]

From the comments...




TENNESSEE PASSES HERITAGE PROTECTION ACT OF 2013

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has recently signed into law the Heritage Protection Act.This law, which applies to the entire state and all cities, prohibits the renaming, removal, or relocating of any military monument or item, such as a statue or flag display, or park, and includes streets and school names, or any other item so honoring a military unit or person. It is effective as of April 1, 2013, and applies to any military item from the French and Indian War through the Mid-East wars, and all US... wars in between, including the War Between the States.

This legislation, the basic text of which was written by Lee Millar, SCV Chief of Protocol and LtCdr of the Tennessee Division, was introduced to the Legislature by Tenn Div Cdr Mike Beck to the Senate and Millar to the House, and was passed overwhelmingly by both the House and the Senate by a combined vote of 95-25.Thanks also to those many compatriots who wrote in to their senators and representatives in support.

This law will assist in the Memphis issue with the Forrest Park anti-renaming campaign and will clearly hereafter protect the Forrest Statue, as well as the Jefferson Davis Statute and the SCV Confederate cannons in Confederate Park.It will also protect scores of other Confederate and War For Southern Independence sites throughout Tennessee.

The new law is one of the greatest documents in modern history for the protection and preservation of this state's and nation's military history and heritage. It is hoped that other states will now take up the initiative.

[enhanced_deficit]

Who was the poster who predicted this two days ago?

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/memphis-mayor-wants-to-dig-up-dead-confederate-war-general.html

Yet this *****ag has no problem palling around with present day SWCs accused of killing very large number of children of color?

http://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/imce-images/huffpost_drones.jpg

[CPUd]

http://i.imgur.com/SmJzDvO.jpg

[Henry Rogue]

Here is my prediction > A prequel to Inglorious Bastards, where Brad Pitt's Character's Great Grandfather carves stars and bars into the heads of Confederate conscripts.
I made a prediction two days ago and it has come to pass. I'll make another.

If this full court press continues there will be an equal or greater amount of tragedy.

This bullshit has led for the perfect storm for a martyr. Be it a white supremacist or a black man that follows the words of the New Panther Party.

Nothing is going to end well with this. There will be more blood. Specifically because of it.

[ChristianAnarchist]

I live just south of Memphis... I was wondering how long until they start attacking the parks and memorials...

[thoughtomator]

I can only imagine how Native Americans view this situation. The hypocrisy they see must be head-exploding.

Hillary Clinton just went to a "Jefferson (slave owner) - Jackson (committed genocide on natives) Dinner" last night. (it's the Dem version of the GOP's Lincoln-Reagan dinners.)

[William Tell]

Tolerance at its best.

[Theocrat]

They might as well ban the movie Forrest Gump, since he was named after General Nathan Bedford Forrest. And if they do that, then they might as well condemn Tom Hanks as a racist for playing a character who was named after a member of the KKK. :rolleyes:

[William Tell]

They might as well ban the movie Forrest Gump, since he was named after General Nathan Bedford Forrest. And if they do that, then they might as well condemn Tom Hanks as a racist for playing a character who was named after a member of the KKK. :rolleyes:

In 100 years they will dig Hank up.

[Gaddafi Duck]

There were black slave owners and black soldiers who willingly fought for the confederacy
Some blacks even had white indentured servants

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_in_the_American_Civil_War

And there were many who fought in the Union.

I think both sides need to wise up on the Civil War stuff. The school textbooks obviously omit and distort, but the level of sympathy by Confederate apologists is absurd as well. Yes, we know Lincoln freed slaves in Confederate territories but kept them in Union lands, but if you want to compare the Confederacy and the Union, no doubt the Confederacy preserved the most barbaric institution in human history more than the North.

Was there racism in the North? Absolutely. But there's a reason why the term "sold down the river" is a well known saying---because the Confederacy was a cess pool of hatred and bigotry, and the deeper into the heart of Dixie you went, the far more severe slave masters were.

That being said, exhuming corpses of well known racists and mass murderers like Forrest isn't a good use of resources. But, I have to laugh at how ridiculous the Confederate apologists are by somehow mitigating the barbarism Forrest and his ilk promoted. Why people feel compelled they are connected to his notorious legacy as something to defend is ridiculous.

[Gaddafi Duck]

Damn it, why do people keep saying that? He neither organized nor played any part in its founding. He was granted control when it started spreading, but he did not organize it. Little details like that irk me.

LOL...he was a prominent Klan member, but he wasn't such a bad guy! Seriously!!

Man oh man, I get a kick out of Confederate apologists. I have always found the Confederate side to be more interesting historically compared to the Union, but I mean let's face facts, the Confederacy was pretty barbaric. I appreciate people pointing out the historical distortion and false heroism to paint the North and Lincoln as being Angels, but I cannot see the Confederacy in a defendable light. To be minority in the South was night and day worse. But the apologists will scrap tooth and nail to make you believe the Confederacy was anything but a tyrannical land with a very disturbing institution they desperately tried to maintain: slavery.

I just find it funny people paint Lincoln as pro slavery as some sort of defense for the entire Confederacy which maintained slavery. It's like you highlight Lincoln politically would have kept slavery intact as a knock on him, which it is, but simultaneously ignore an entire land mass of southern states kept slavery intact as an acceptable cultural norm. THAT is indeed tragic

[Aratus]

"I think both sides need to wise up on the Civil War stuff. The school textbooks obviously omit and distort, but the level of sympathy by Confederate apologists is absurd as well. Yes, we know Lincoln freed slaves in Confederate territories but kept them in Union lands, but if you want to compare the Confederacy and the Union, no doubt the Confederacy preserved the most barbaric institution in human history more than the North.

Was there racism in the North? Absolutely. But there's a reason why the term "sold down the river" is a well known saying---because the Confederacy was a cess pool of hatred and bigotry, and the deeper into the heart of Dixie you went, the far more severe slave masters were.

That being said, exhuming corpses of well known racists and mass murderers like Forrest isn't a good use of resources. But, I have to laugh at how ridiculous the Confederate apologists are by somehow mitigating the barbarism Forrest and his ilk promoted. Why people feel compelled they are connected to his notorious legacy as something to defend is ridiculous." (Gaddafi Duck 10:34 PM 6/27/15)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-JxArcSyYg David Blight's lecture at Vanderbilt Universary on Robert Penn Warren




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

After each rebellion, the laws got stricter all over the South as

more privileges and basic rights were taken away. With the way

the Fugitive Slave Act condoned the kidnapping of people across

state lines with highly debatable paperwork and uncertain means

of identification it added fuel to the metaphoric flames. Slavery was

becoming worse over time, if one sees how a status not unlike a

bondservant circa the 1600s under English Common Law became

more restricted. The better plantation owners freed or tried to free

their slaves, any debt kept the slaves tethered to the plantation as

assets. If one is at all Libertarian, one cannot justify slavery and/or

any equivalency in terms of a repressive caste system! Lets be logical.

[thoughtomator]

Bunch of fucking hypocrites if they're against the Confederate flag but have nothing to say about the million slaves being held in the US today.

[ChristianAnarchist]

And there were many who fought in the Union.

I think both sides need to wise up on the Civil War stuff. The school textbooks obviously omit and distort, but the level of sympathy by Confederate apologists is absurd as well. Yes, we know Lincoln freed slaves in Confederate territories but kept them in Union lands, but if you want to compare the Confederacy and the Union, no doubt the Confederacy preserved the most barbaric institution in human history more than the North.

Was there racism in the North? Absolutely. But there's a reason why the term "sold down the river" is a well known saying---because the Confederacy was a cess pool of hatred and bigotry, and the deeper into the heart of Dixie you went, the far more severe slave masters were.

That being said, exhuming corpses of well known racists and mass murderers like Forrest isn't a good use of resources. But, I have to laugh at how ridiculous the Confederate apologists are by somehow mitigating the barbarism Forrest and his ilk promoted. Why people feel compelled they are connected to his notorious legacy as something to defend is ridiculous.

Quite right actually. ALL forms of a fiction "government" are evil to the extreme. This is why the ONLY way to liberty is to remove this crazy idea that "government" exists and has a place in our lives. Men do extreme evil when they believe their actions are "authorized" by some fiction "government". Slavery, death, destruction of cities, blowing up schools and weddings, polluting the planet to the extreme with nuclear and biological death. All the real "mass murderers" are so-called "heads of state". When people get this simple fact inside of their skulls maybe we can finally understand what "liberty" really means...

[Southron]

Klan member or not, the Reconstruction era Klan has little to do with later incarnations. The South was under military rule. The original Klan faded when Democrats regained control.

[Chomp]

The Confederate flags, General Robert E. Lee, Nathan Forest are bad. But placing Lenin's monuments on our soil is a norm now. So is sodomite pride flag. Disgusting land !:mad:

[Suzanimal]

I hope he haunts them.


City Council votes to remove Nathan Bedford Forrest’s remains

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis City Council has voted unanimously to approve a resolution to remove the remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

However, WREG’s Shay Arthur reported the measure has to be passed by Chancery Court in order to happen.

This is a developing story so stay with News Channel 3 for the latest.

http://wreg.com/2015/07/07/city-council-votes-to-remove-nathan-bedford-forrests-remains/

[GunnyFreedom]

Oh FFS

[tod evans]

No choice: Tennessee law forces gov to honor Confederate general, KKK leader

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/13/no-choice-tennessee-law-forces-gov-to-honor-early-kkk-leader/?intcmp=latestnews

When it came time to honor a Confederate general and onetime Ku Klux Klan leader by proclaiming Monday “Nathan Bedford Forrest Day,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam didn't exactly volunteer.

Haslam is currently trying to get the rebel army leader's bust out of the state Capitol building in Nashville amid a widening national controversy over Confederate symbols and memorabilia. But Tennessee Code 15-2-101 designates July 13 as “Nathan Bedford Forrest Day,” just one of several Confederate observances, including Jan. 19, which is “Robert E. Lee Day” and June 3, known in Tennessee as “Confederate Decoration Day.”

“Forrest would not be my choice of one of the Tennesseans that we honor.”

- Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam
“Each year it is the duty of the governor of this state to proclaim the following as days of special observance,” the first section of the code states.

The Republican governor said last month Tennessee has other, more worthy sons and daughters to laud.

“Forrest would not be my choice of one of the Tennesseans that we honor,” he said, according to The Tennessean.

Haslam signed the proclamation on June 2, The Tennessean reported, 15 days before Dylann Roof allegedly walked into the Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina and shot dead nine parishioners in a racially-motivated killing, touching off a national debate on the appropriateness of displaying Confederate symbols and remembrances after photos surfaced showing Roof holding the rebel flag.

The proclamation identifies Forrest only as “a recognized military figure in America and a native Tennessean.”

“Now, therefore, I Bill Haslam, Governor of the State of Tennessee, do hereby proclaim July 13, 2015, as Nathan Bedford Forrest Day in Tennessee and encourage all citizens to join me in this worthy observance,” the document states.

The debate over Forrest, long revered by some Tennesseeans but now seen as an increasingly polarizing figure, hit a fever pitch earlier this month in Memphis, where the City Council unanimously approved a resolution last week to evict the remains of Forrest and his wife from Health Sciences Park, where they have been buried for 110 years. That decision prompted some to charge that people are overreacting in an attempt to cleanse the state of an important chapter in its history.

"This appears to me to be another knee jerk reaction to that anti-Confederate hysteria,” Lee Millar, of Sons of Confederate Veterans, told LocalMemphis.com. “Some people here are trying to get on the bandwagon in erasing Confederate history and it’s just wrong."

Actually moving Forrest’s remains could prove as difficult as canceling the day that is dedicated to him. State lawmakers would need to enact legislation to change the law in order to stop future days honoring Forrest, according to The Tennessean.

Forrest, who built a fortune as a slave trader and planter before the Civil War, was a lieutenant general in the Confederate army. After the war, he became the Ku Klux Klan's first grand wizard, although he later disavowed the racist group.

[DevilsAdvocate]

Who thinks like this? No I mean seriously, who actually thinks like this?

Let the dead lie

[tod evans]

Who thinks like this? No I mean seriously, who actually thinks like this?

Let the dead lie

Trained victims.....

[AuH20]

The protesters are getting a little ahead of the process...............

http://www.theamericanmirror.com/impatient-protesters-begin-digging-up-confederate-generals-grave-themselves/


What kind of voodoo is this?


A group surrounded a shovel Wednesday and ceremoniously removed a chunk of grass and soil.

“We are going to bring the back hoe, the tractors and the men with the equipment to raise Bedford Forrest from the soil of Memphis,” Isaac Richmond with the “Commission on Religion and Racism” declared to awaiting TV cameras, CBS 3 reported.

Richmond ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year.

He believes if the general who died 137 years ago can just be eliminated, that will really help things.

“If he’s gone, some of this racism and race-hate might be gone,” he said, shovel in hand. “We got a fresh shovel full, and we hope that everybody else will follow suit and dig him up.”

[phill4paul]

Shaddup.


As Ben Phelan with PBS writes:


"After only a year as Grand Wizard, in January 1869, faced with an ungovernable membership employing methods that seemed increasingly counterproductive, Forrest issued KKK General Order Number One: "It is therefore ordered and decreed, that the masks and costumes of this Order be entirely abolished and destroyed." By the end of his life, Forrest's racial attitudes would evolve -- in 1875, he advocated for the admission of blacks into law school -- and he lived to fully renounce his involvement with the all-but-vanished Klan."

If you read Eddy W. Davison's "Nathan Bedford Forrest: In Search of the Enigma," on page 464 and 474-475, you can see that Forrest not only publicly disavowed the KKK and worked to terminate it, but in August 1874, Forrest "volunteered to help 'exterminate' those men responsible for the continued violence against the blacks." After the murder of four blacks by a lynch mob after they were arrested for defending themselves at a BBQ, Forrest wrote to Tennessee Governor Brown, offering "to exterminate the white marauders who disgrace their race by this cowardly murder of Negroes."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-a-tures/general-nathan-bedford-fo_b_7734444.html

[GunnyFreedom]

Forrest, who built a fortune as a slave trader and planter before the Civil War, was a lieutenant general in the Confederate army. After the war, he became the Ku Klux Klan's first grand wizard, although he later disavowed the racist group.

One would think the left would be falling all over themselves to honor this guy as a hero for having disavowed the Klan in an era when such disavowals were often a death sentence. This tidbit makes the call to exhume and relocate their remains 10-fold more stupid than it already was, and it already was awfully stupid.

[Danke]

Bump

[oyarde]

Bump

Bedford or " Ol' Bed " as he was called both , was a good democrat . Pledged delegate from Tennessee to the New York Democratic National Convention on 4 July 1868 , elected democrat memphis city alderman ( 1858) , kind of unusual for them not to overlook his flaws ( slave trading office on Adams Street in Memphis ) . After the war when he ran the Marion & Memphis Railroad into the ground and bankrupted it as company President he then lived in a log cabin while running a Prison Work Farm on Presidents Island . They say he was moved from Elmwood Cemetery in 1904 and moved to memphis city park , but I do not think he is really there at all .

[oyarde]

Where I am from , if you run a prison work farm after you bankrupt a business they probably will not be naming things after you .

[oyarde]

////

[acptulsa]

The real irony is that Forrest donated the land to the city. Now they want to dig up his remains....

The least they could do is give the park to his heirs and say, we don't want your tainted land.

But what government ever gave back to the people, or do things the principled way...?

[oyarde]

I imagine that park would be valuable real estate ideally suited for law office complex because of the proximity to the courts but I doubt the city would ever give it up .