Yep. This garbage plays right into the hands of liberals who accuse Republicans of being the party of KKK racists and the Jim Crow south.
Republicans have no business honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Forrest was a remarkable man. By the end of his life, he was pushing for advancement among blacks. One needs to look at his life from birth to death and see the road he traveled before judging him. I’d guess 99% of people who recognize his name would be unable to describe anything about his life other than “KKK” - and THAT is a gross distortion of his life!
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I accept the flowers as a memento of reconciliation between the white and colored races of the Southern states. I accept it more particularly as it comes from a colored lady, for if there is any one on God’s earth who loves the ladies I believe it is myself. (Immense applause and laughter.)
“I came here with the jeers of some white people, who think that I am doing wrong. I believe I can exert some influence and do much to assist the people in strengthening fraternal relations and shall do all in my power to elevate every man, to depress none. (Applause.)
“I want to elevate you to take positions in law offices, in stores, on farms and wherever you are capable of going. I have not said anything about politics today. I don’t propose to say anything about politics.
“You have a right to elect whom you please, vote for the man you think best, and I think, when that is done, you and I are freemen. Do as you consider right and honest in electing men for office.
“I did not come here to make you a long speech, although invited to do so by you. I am not much of a speaker, and my business prevented me from preparing myself. I came to meet you as friends and welcome you to the white people.
“I want you to come nearer to us. When I can serve you I will do so. We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment.
“Many things have been said about me which are wrong, and which white and black persons here, who stood by me through the war, can contradict.
“Go to work, be industrious, live honestly and act truly, and when you are oppressed I’ll come to your relief. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for this opportunity you have afforded me to be with you, and to assure you that I am with you in heart and in hand.” (Prolonged applause.)
After the speech Forrest thanked the young black woman for the bouquet and kissed her on the cheek.
“The myth of Forrest hinges largely on the pre-war man. Forrest was the ultimate self-made southerner. His wealth was built on the despicable vocation of slave-trading, and his insecurities over his background caused him to promote himself as a well-dressed tough-guy. Still, Forrest aspired to be a planter.
Ashdown and Caudill use the preeminence of death and suffering in Forrest’s life to explain much of the general’s mythic appeal. His upbringing on the frontier of white American society hardened him. His slimy occupation allowed him to seem more humane than other slave-traders, but at best the Forrest myth could only transform him into the “best of a bad lot.” And Yet Forrest’s wife remains by all historical accounts a good woman, and Forrest, notoriously violent, remained a good husband.
No two periods have served to confuse the myth of Forrest more than his Civil War years and his postwar years. Forrest’s wholesale slaughter of troops (mostly black) at Fort Pillow tarred any national reputation he might have had forever. But his raiding prowess earned him the respect of his soldiers, and his benevolent protection over Confederate civilians earned him massive esteem in the post-war South. His leadership and subsequent rejection of the Klu Klux Klan allowed him to be represented as a racial moderate in reconstruction; his reconciliation and support of Memphis’ blacks in the 1870s causes the historian and the myth-maker even further confusion.”
http://personal.tcu.edu/swoodworth/Ashdown%20&%20Caudill-MNBF.htm