On Tuesday, the Memphis City Council started the process of removing the monument dedicated to Nathan Forrest. Forrest was a Confederate war general, and the first “grand wizard” of the Ku Klux Klan. A resolution to remove Forrest’s remains from under the monument also took place on Tuesday. The resolution passed by a unanimous vote of the Memphis City Council. Permanent removal of the physical statue will be voted on by the council at a later date.
Just because the Memphis City Council voted to remove Forrest’s remains does not mean that it can happen right away. The council must now get approval from a judge in Chancery Court, as well as get approval from the living descendants of Nathan Forrest’s family. The city would have to officially file a lawsuit in Shelby County Chancery Court. Any living family members of Forrest must also be named in the lawsuit.
The former general’s remains were interred at Elmwood cemetery. Officials at the cemetery have stated that they will take back the remains of the Confederate general, but not the statue. The entire process to remove the remains and the statue is going to take some time. Memphis City Council member Myron Lowery commented on this issue.
“It is no longer politically correct to glorify someone who was a slave trader, someone who was a racist on public property. It was clearly after what happened in South Carolina. It was clearly after what happened in the state capital of Tennessee.”
Removal of the statue and the remains has opposition. Lee Miller, the spokesman for the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, also commented on this issue.
“I think it’s disgusting that people use the shooting in Charleston and use those victims to forward their own agenda and join this anti Confederate hysteria that’s going on. To attack something like that now I feel is just really misguided.”
Other people have made it known that they would be interested in having the statue if the ordinance to have it removed is successfully passed.
The Memphis City Council ordinance to remove the statue, per the council’s rules, must be read a total of three times before it can be voted on. Removal of the remains only requires one reading before an official vote can be taken.
What are your thoughts on what the Memphis City Council is planning? What is going to be the next thing related to the Confederate Army to be removed or banned?
[Image via Cubiclane.com ]
