Now this seems worthwhile: replace statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest—former delegate to 1860 Democrat National Convention, vicious slave trader & the founder of the KKK—with the great Dolly Parton. A win-win! https://t.co/PKGiBVXS8Z— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 15, 2020
Cruz is an ignorant ass. Calling Forrest a KKK leader ignores that he disavowed them, said they should disband and burn their costumes, and gave a warm speech calling for brotherhood and friendship between blacks and whites.
http://www.tennessee-scv.org/ForrestHistSociety/forrest_speech.html
A convention and BBQ was held by the Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association at the fairgrounds of Memphis, five miles east of the city. An invitation to speak was conveyed to General Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the city’s most prominent citizens, and one of the foremost cavalry commanders in the late War Between the States. This was the first invitation granted to a white man to speak at this gathering. The invitation’s purpose, one of the leaders said, was to extend peace, joy, and union, and following a brief welcoming address a Miss Lou Lewis, daughter of an officer of the Pole-Bearers, brought forward flowers and assurances that she conveyed them as a token of good will. After Miss Lewis handed him the flowers, General Forrest responded with a short speech that, in the contemporary pages of the Memphis Appeal, evinces Forrest’s racial open-mindedness that seemed to have been growing in him.
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.)
Whereupon N. B. Forrest again thanked Miss Lewis for the bouquet and then gave her a kiss on the cheek. Such a kiss was unheard of in the society of those days, in 1875, but it showed a token of respect and friendship between the general and the black community and did much to promote harmony among the citizens of Memphis.
I have no quarrel with Dolly Parton, but she is nothing compared to Forrest in our history.
Nathan Bedford Forrest did not found the KKK. It was already around when he took over. As soon he saw how radical it was becoming, he disbanded it. It reformed as the Klan we all know a couple of decades after he died. He was also one of the earliest proponents of affirmative action.
If you think the 19th-Century Ku Klux Klan was a violent racist organization that was founded and headed by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest after the American Civil War you’ve been completely deceived by anti-South historians. In order to understand why the original KKK emerged and why Forrest and the South supported it one must see the crimes, outrages, and unconstitutional activities of the liberal North and its radical South-hating politicians.
The “Reconstruction KKK” (which is in no way connected to the modern KKK founded in 1915) was a conservative organization intended to be temporary that had thousands of black supporters, assistants, and members, formed to protect Southerners of all races from the North’s injurious and vindictive Reconstruction measures.
Not only was there an all-black KKK den in Nashville but many of the whites who came South as part of the North’s Reconstruction program were members as well. In order to procure votes, more easily control the populace, destroy traditional American values and implement their progressive agenda race-baiting liberals promoted a fake “Southern race war” that’s being perpetuated to this day. For opposing this effort Forrest and the Reconstruction KKK have been smeared with a mountain of lies, slander, and anti-South propaganda.
Nathan Bedford Forrest and the original Ku Klux Klan have been unfairly tarnished by a century and a half of attacks after striving to save the South from the blight of two Freedmen’s Bureau Acts and the four Reconstruction Acts. To replace his bust with "The Bust" is an insult to his legacy and another shameful attempt to rewrite history for the sake of revisionists who strive to combine his ruthless (and brilliant) Civil War record with the evil latter Klan he denounced to his dying day.
And Ms. Parton is a National Treasure in her own right, deserving her own place in Tennessee's Honored. Ted was wrong to drag her into this without her input.