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[TN]
KKK Founder’s Burial Place Added To Historic Registry
Knoxville News Sentinel
/March 20, 2009
Forrest Park, which has long been a focus of racial controversy because it honors founding Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places after the Sons of Confederate Veterans submitted a nomination.
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on March 26th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
How can that be so? He should have been tried for treason. All KKK members should be tried for treason.
on March 26th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
What a disgrace! It needs to be undone immediately!
Annette L. Stone
on March 26th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I have mixed feelings regarding this. First of all slavery is the all time worst curse of humankind and the KKK is a bunch of bloody thugs, but historians (S. Foote) tell us that NBF left the KKK because it became too violent, even for him.
We should not judge those of 150 yrs past through our post modern lens. Surely a compromise can be worked out by renaming the park and moving the statue and graves to a location satisfactory to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
on March 26th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
A people who forget their past are doomed to repeat it…
Forrest Park is a testament to the Civil War, a war the Confederacy did not win. Because the Confederacy did not win, slavery was abolished in the United States and black Americans began their arduous climb toward full citizenship, a climb that began in earnest in Memphis a century after Confederate defeat. To forget Confederate General Forrest, a Memphian, a Tennessean, a slave trader, a founding member of the Klu Klux Klan would not serve anyone’s interests. It would only serve the interests of those who would like to lull Tennesseans and Americans into a false sense of security, premised on the notion that our nation’s tortured past is something we have transcended. One glance at Memphis’ poverty rate, the disparity between white wages and black wages, the paucity of the American promise of liberty and justice for all in Memphis should be enough to convince all Tennesseans that remembering General Forrest is as important as remembering Dr. King. Dr. King’s message of love and hope was a reaction to the life and legacy of General Forrest. Both are part of Memphis’ legacy and both need to be remembered, even if for very different reasons.
on March 26th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a truly great American, Southerner and individual, a hero to many, including myself, to this day… Your tolerance and diversity along with multiculturism dictate that while we may not respect a person, we should realize that others do… I object to the MLK ‘holiday’ and glorification of King as I was alive and saw firsthand all the problems and violence that troublemaker created, for example… But I can see how a black would like him, and his importance to them… Slice off a piece of your tolerance and eat it yourself…
on March 26th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
That´s about the sickest thing I have heard in a long time. I wouldn´t be sharing a graveyard with a man like him. And I know he was a great general.
on March 26th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Forrest didn’t really start the KKK, although he sympathized with their initial aim of trying to keep some order in a crazy situation.
He cultivated the blood thirsty image that the North had of him during the Civil War to maintain a psychological edge over the enemy-it worked very well.
When the KKK started getting so nuts with the violence he continually sought to get the group disbanded.
I think that’s a much more interesting story than what we’re always told.
on March 26th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Yes, I agree that we should know our history. Forrest was a Confederate general and we should know about him as we should know about both Union and Confederate people. We should know about the war and all the issues. During wars bad things happen on both sides. Our problem is that history is told from only one viewpoint many times. Think about what was done to Native Americans and people in Texas and New Mexico who had lived there prior to those areas being part of the USA. Tolerance is needed by all and respect for each other. The KKK is a hateful organization but I don’t think we should try to do away with this park. The man has been dead over 100 years and he is being honored for being a Confederate general not for his faults.
on March 26th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
This is really perfect amerikkka, honoring it’s own.
on March 26th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
The United States government should plant a fruit tree near the grave of Nathan Bedford Forrest and watch all the nuts, fruitcakes and squirrels gather.
The Southern attack upon the military at Fort Sumter was as much an enemy attack against the United States as any other enemy the American Armed Forces fought to keep this nation great.
on March 26th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Upon further reflection, I went about what I was trying to say the wrong way. I think in my ideal open space, there would be a plaque beside Forrest’s statue that said: General, Memphian, American Terrorist and War Criminal- that way everyone who went there and saw it would be forced to take in the enormity of Memphis’ past…
And since that would never happen, the best thing would be to take away the “honor” that goes along with having a park with your name on it, i.e. rename the park in the name of someone who symbolized what is good and honorable about Memphis. It doesn’t serve anyone’s interests to have a park honoring a terrorist and war criminal- there are other Memphians that deserve a park named after them more than Forrest.
I guess my fear is that if we just forget that men like Forrest existed, that the Civil War both liberated and devastated half of the country, that we forget the struggles that began when the Civil War ended. I think our country should have a continual conversation about all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly and that nothing good can happen by not owning up to our national sins.
That’s what I really want to say: that the best way to honor the past is to remember all of it and tell the stories of struggle that have yet to be told- because there are lots of them. And that I think the past has a profound influence on the present and the future. If we pretend that horrible things didn’t happen, we never address those horrible things, learn from them and honor the memories of those who struggled to fight the forces of oppression and terror. But that doesn’t have to include honoring someone with a park who did so much harm. That’s what I really wanted to say.
on March 28th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Carrie ~ I agree. Those that never remember the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. It’s really that simple.
on April 1st, 2009 at 9:08 am
If what I am reading is that most people feel the historic designation requires some context, I agree. Otherwise, a child could visit that park on a field trip and leave worshipping the founder of the KKK as a hero.
on March 9th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
How sick of the kk to commit such crimes.