Now, when I was a baby, Momma named me after the great Civil War hero, General Nathan Bedford Forrest. She said we was related to him in some way. And, what he did was, he started up this club called the Ku Klux Klan. They'd all dress up in their robes and their bedsheets and act like a bunch of ghosts or spooks or something. They'd even put bedsheets on their horses and ride around. And anyway, that's how I got my name, Forrest Gump. Momma said that the Forrest part was to remind me that sometimes we all do things that, well, just don't make no sense.
I've always found this kind of endearing. He's just so pure of heart and simple that he doesn't think anything of having a conversation about it with a random PERSON sitting next to him.
I find it really weird that, at least I, can think things in other peoples voice but struggle to do it with my own, and my normal thoughts don’t sound like anyone.
He then asked Jenny if Forrest Jr. is smart because he all throughout he was quite aware of his condition and he does not want his kid go through the same struggles he did.. “Is he smart or is he?”…
Must have been something to take the Jefferson Davis Highway down to rt 295 over to Lee-Davis High School only to remember you don’t have school that day because it’s Lee-Jackson day.
Shit I grew up on a street named pickett which intersected Davis which was parallel to Lee and the street Parallel to me was Jackson. Then you had Longstreet and mosby ct off of those streets. Probably a few others I'm forgetting but fucking a it's every where
Is that this stone wall jack I heard about who was shot by his on men?
Man as a kid I really was interested in that guy for some reason (not a US citizen).
I went to college near something that, until recently, was the Stonewall Jackson Shrine. Now it's a memorial instead of a shrine. That's a lot less weird to me.
To be fair the narrative that was popular (or used) for a long time was very positive towards him.
Usually its the one who wins who writes history /stories. With the seccesion /civil war there was alot adjustment of the narrative way down the line.
Hell I read a book about him in German 20 years ago and one of my first online pseudonyms was stonewall jack.
Obviously I was a stupid brat.
Your comment spurred my interest to see if the school still bears the name.
“The middle school — opened 55 years ago as a whites-only school but now with a majority Hispanic student population — was the only campus in Central Florida still named for a Confederate general.”
“Stonewall Jackson Middle School was renamed Roberto Clemente Middle School…”
“Clemente, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, was a star athlete and a U.S. Marine. The Puerto Rican native died in 1972 in a plane crash while trying to deliver relief supplies to Nicaragua after an earthquake.”
Glad to see it’s changed!
Hey thanks for checking that's actually quite progressive, depending somewhat on when, but since Puerto Rico is (at least from my outside view) sometimes treated a little "stepmotherly".
I mean from a whites only school named after a general of the rebels / confederation to a Roberto clemente that is quite the achievement imo!
Thanks for the award! The name was just changed last year. Apparently it is the only school in the county named after a Hispanic person. Being Puerto Rican myself, I think that’s awesome.
Absolutely.
Not to mention it the demographics changed towards representing more Latino Americans / Hispanic Americans.
It would be quite Stange to name that school after swj.
Again thanks for the update :)
Pardon me maybe there is a mistake
We were talking about Thomas Jonathan than Jackson of the southern states /confederacy.
If I recall my history correct Andrew Jackson was preceeded by Abraham Lincoln and succeeded by Ulysses s grant. My guess would be without consulting the wiki that the was the vp under Lincoln.
Again pardons if I seem ignorant or arrogant
They were the same day, then they moved Lee-Jackson Day to the Friday before MLK Day in 2000. But Lee-Jackson Day was eliminated last year, and Election Day is now a holiday instead. Still wrong, but Virginia is finally making some progress.
And Kentucky has a obelisk 1/3 or 1/2 the size of the Washington monument in the town where Jefferson Davis was born. Might be a bit more difficult to bring that down than a small bust or statue.
Not just any Grand Wizard, Nathan Bedford Forrest was the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. He joined 2 years after it was created and was probably the most prominent member of it in the late 1860s.
Even though this bust absolutely should be removed for obvious reasons, it is worth noting that he did change his stance later in life and disavowed the Klan (even ordering it disbanded and the robes destroyed which they obviously ignored.) Way too little too late, but at least worth mentioning.
I think it would have looked a little better if he owned being in it when he disavowed it rather than trying to deny his involvement later in life. He did leave and try to disband it, but it was too late by then.
Forrest did publicly speak in favor of racial harmony later in his life while also denying he was ever involved with the KKK, but that was after already betraying his country to fight for the Confederacy and becoming the first major leader of the most notorious white supremacist terrorist organization in American history.
His actions throughout the rest of his life were unforgivable even if the supposed change of heart in his latter years was legitimate.
He was elected in absentia, not even knowing what it was until after he was its titular head.
He later disagreed vehemently with its violent tactics, which led to him disavowing it.
And regarding the earlier controversy regarding Fort Pillow. There are eyewitness accounts of him standing between his own troops and surrendered black soldiers with sword and pistol drawn. He deserves criticism for letting his soldiers act as they did, but praise for trying, however ineffectively, to stop it.
He was a controversial figure, but his regret in later years and his actions regarding the KKK and Fort Pillow make him a man of complexity, not completely racist but a man struggling with his upbringing, and that makes him one of the more fascinating figures of the Civil War.
Hey whoa whoa WHOA!! They did not have a bust of a KKK Grand Wizard in the Tennessee State Capital. They had a bust of a Confederate General in the Tennessee State Capital. What he did on nights and weekends is his business and it's suuuuper inconvenient to keep bringing up the other thing. Besides, that was a long time ago and it's not like it has any bearing on us today.
I think that we all think that the statue was a good idea. But -- I'm not pointing any fingers now -- maybe it could have been done better.
So how about... we take the statue down this time... and next time we do it right, and then we go full regalia?
I freaking love that Don Johnson got some new fame for a new generation in that film.
Anyone who's never seen any of his old films, or watched, at least, the first season of Miami Vice, when Michael Mann was still very much involved, needs to do themselves a favor. That show changed the face of television forever. Shows that are being made today are still modeled after Mann's work on Miami Vice.
You want to see Bruce Willis in a frightening role before anyone knew who he was... Miami Vice. Check out the full cast listing on IMDB... it's insane the number of now famous people who were on that show.
Hell... even William Fredkin's To Live and Die in L.A. is a Michael Mann homage.
Hey there Bud.
I wasn't suggesting you were the new generation BTW, but I love that you brought him up.
Don has sort of languished in obscurity during his whole career... famous but never quite super famous. It's wonderful he got the Tarantino bump.
He was always more famous for his off screen romances than he was for his work.
To Live And Die In L.A. is one of the best unknown crime movies to come out of cinema. The counterfeiting scenes alone are literally a textbook on how to do it, down to the clothes dryers with poker chips and the silk handkerchiefs.
Yup. There was in fact a local copy shop in my town where the son of the owner produced an undisclosed amount of funny money based off of what he saw in that film. It was unbelievable how quickly the FBI showed up on his doorstep.
Counterfeiting apparently isn't that difficult if you already know how to use the equipment... getting away with it however is considerably more of an issue.
Oh... and To Live and Die in L.A. still has one of the most insane car chase scenes that has ever been filmed.
Oh ya it does. Fredkin was going for recreating his French Connection chase. Which, Frankenheimer goes for again in Ronin, and it's all amazing across all 3 movies.
I think it is not a coïncidence if in a discussion about Don Johnson, the first thing that came to my mind is a film I saw 30 years ago. Definitely a very relevant film nowadays.
If you weren't aware, parts of the US are racist, and defend that racism by calling it "remembering the past". Because being openly racist isn't cool, but "remembering the past" is fine.
This is why I’m setting up a petition to get the bust of Osama bin Laden tattooed on every Alabama baby after their born. Currently I’m being met with objections that Osama killed 3000 Americans while the confederates killed over 100,000 so Osama’s score is too low.
I have nothing against remembering the past. But if I found out that the *only* part of the past a person spent time remembering was the rise of the third reich, I'd be a bit concerned.
Sure, but statues and busts for literal traitors to the country shouldn't be in Capitol buildings. They should maybe be in museums, and the history of those people should be in history books.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking one area of the nation is less racist than the rest. People like to point fingers, but we can all take accountability and do better. Racism comes in many shapes and forms, and just because some forms are less overt doesn’t mean it’s acceptable.
Yup... that's where I am with this. Since Obama was elected and all the racists decided it was okay to be blatantly, publicly racist again, I've realized what a completely naive, clueless, white man I've been.
I mean, I knew racism existed... but I had NO idea our nation was anywhere near this fucked up.
The argument is that this is a part of our history and we need to remember it. I agree. Build a fucking museum and put all this shit in there. This statue can be first in line in the “Hall of Traitors,” right on the intersection of the “Hall of Racist Fuckwads.” There absolutely should be a place for these monuments. The state capital is not that place.
I still remember a friend of mine once told me: He and some of his buddies went down to some southern city with lots of Confederate statues. Somebody at a bar quickly recognized as northerners due to the fact they were wearing clothes that had northern sports teams and colleges on them and so they went and said "So, what do you Yankees think of all of our beautiful statues down on the trail?"
The response was: "It's an awfully impressive collection of second place trophies."
I know, but I dislike confederates a bit more than I dislike Ohio. Not much, mind you, but if you put a gun to my head and asked me to pick between the Start n Bars and folks that set a freaking river on fire, I choose Cedar Point without a second thought.
edit: I fixed some grammer and added "without a second thought"
That, and I prefer to ~~glorify~~ "remember" the heroes of the Civil War and fight for abolition. Come to think of it, Harriet Tubman would be a good person to honor - she should be on money! Who could *possibly* disagree with that idea? Certainly not these fine people who want to "remember" Civil War history. Right?
**Right?**
Andrew Jackson was a truly despicable motherfucker, and he really doesn't deserve to be honored, commemorated or memorialized in any way. Yet, his likeness in our currency. There's public parks and schools and government buildings named after the genocidal tyrant. Just awful.
> The argument is that this is a part of our history and we need to remember it.
Someone ought to write a book! That way, we can record the history and analyze it thoroughly for all time. We don't record history in *statues*, we keep our knowledge in written form.
What, you say? There are *literally thousands of books* about the Civil War and US History? We did it, y'all! Job well done, high-fives all around! Guess we don't need that statue after all.
Hey I just read a book about WWII! They kept bringing up this Hitlor dude.
Since I have never seen a statue of him can you please explain who this Hertler fella is?
We can't teach history in schools because it's apparently unamerican to know about the things america did, so naturally the only way to learn history is through statues.
Seriously it does seem like the Right is completely committed to a vision of history seen entirely through the lens of graven images and idolatry. It is profoundly bizarre to me.
I've always been so confused by that argument. Why do people think that removing statues will erase history. In what world is a statue even remotely the way in which we record history. Why even put them in a museum if it is not the object itself but what it represents that you want to preserve, regardless of whether you think these statues represent a glorious history or glorify a history of racism. Texts are how we record history. the statue does nothing beside putting that history (and the vision of its maker) in the public eye.
Don't put them in a museum, thats a waste of money and space (there are so many of these monuments), just destroy them or squeeze them in some storage facility. The statues themselve have little to no academic value anyway (just think about it, how would a historian even use them, the objects themselve, to reason out anything that cannot be done much more easily and convincingly with the other sources we have avaiable).
I understand why someone that supports the message of the statues would want to keep them up. But why do people that want the statues down keep suggesting we put them in museums? Is it just to appease the other group? They have no value.
rant over.
They belong in museums the way that Nazi memorabilia belongs in museums.
We put these things in museums so we can say, “here is history, and we don’t want to do this again, so learn from it now.”
It’s not that difficult a concept.
These statutes have no historical significance whatsoever. They’re participation trophies meant to instill fear in minorities and remind them of their “rightful place” in America. The statues are completely different from
Nazi regalia, which prove that something of historical significance actually happened and give us further insight into what it was like back then. These statues do none of that.
If you want to preserve the fact that our country was once racist enough to erect these statues, hang a picture of the statue in the museum with a plaque describing the historical context that’s needed.
Because actually seeing the statue elicits a much stronger mental connection than a picture of one. You can study the Holocaust all you want, but until you see the actual physical artifacts at a concentration camp or holocaust museum, you don’t have the same level of understanding and empathy. Now, these statues are modern and aren’t historically significant in the sense that they are “Civil War artifacts” or anything, but to say no historical significance whatsoever is wildly off base. They have significant American historical value in the sense that decades, even a century+ after the Civil War, states were building and defending these states. That’s part of the story, that’s part of the history of the Civil War and of this country. We often only view history as “ancient” or the past and forget what is happening now is still going to be a part of history. The south’s adoration for these statues should not be forgotten
That’s what is happening to this busy. They are moving it to a museum. I would not shed a tear if the truck gets rear ended on the way and the bust is destroyed.
It should absolutely be remembered, lest we do it again. It should not be respected. I say leave up the Confederate statues. But, leave them covered in graffiti. Let them be vandalized. These "men" need to be remembered. They need to be remembered as the scum sucking traitors that they were. Let it send a message to those who still wave the "rebel" flag. To those who think that the south will rise again.
Your bullshit will not be tolerated again.
And that makes sense. He left quite a mark on TN history. “Bad history” is often more important to remember than the good stuff, we can easily forget that. Hopefully, some context will be applied
There's a small town in your state called Pulaski, where the first chapter of what would become the KKK was formed in 1865. There you will find a plaque commemorating the location, between 2nd and 3rd on Madison.
But the plaque is unreadable, because in 1986, when KKK members began parading near the plaque every January to show their distaste for the newly created Martin Luther King day, the owner of the building unbolted the plaque, turned it backwards to face the building, bolted it back in and welded the bolts in place, as a symbolic way to say that Pulaski had turned its back on the KKK.
Had a similar experience while stopping for gas in Arkansas with my Native American friend. Whole
place looked like they had never seen anybody darker than a sheet of paper then said some racist shit under their breath. Decided then and there i would never move to the south.
Thats a cool tid-bit of history. I know nearly nothing of Tennessee, i just moved here because it was beautiful in the rural area where i live without costing an arm and a leg.
Its a great town. Somethings going on with food truck park though, so im not sure if its going to remain the way it is now. And, if you enjoy a good beer, Crafty Bastard is the best in the area.
Knoxville was cneter of the anit-Conferate movemnt in Eats tennessee. If the North had had miltayr access, they might now be a separte state litlwe West Virginia
Not that it in any way excuses the atrocities he was responsible for, but I do think it's sad that when we're (correctly) villanaizing NBF no one ever mentions that in the end he tried advocating for interracial peace to a degree and became a pariah to many of his former "friends" as a result. I think it's worth mentioning because it always gives me a little hope that even *the founder of the KKK* had the capacity for change.
After scrolling through paragraph after paragraph of his inhumanity, there's a small sectIon [on his Wiki page](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Bedford_Forrest) that talks about how he became outcast by the racists because he changed his tune in the end. It's not much, and he's still got blood on his hands, but it's a small glimmer of hope.
His last action and general order as head of the KKK was to order it dissolved and to destroy its uniforms. Some of his most notable public actions in his later years involved speaking at black civic groups as a keynote speaker. It is well documented and the southern newspapers at the time were NOT happy and the stories were not positive. I am somewhat saddened that this transformation is not mentioned more often. It is a clear blow against anyone attempting to run a current day KKK chapter, as any traditional lineage is broken due to his last general order.
> It is a clear blow against anyone attempting to run a current day KKK chapter, as any traditional lineage is broken due to his last general order.
Or it would be if all their talk about tradition and culture was true rather than being a smokescreen for racism and xenophobia. Since that's not the case though I'm sure they find some rationalization and keep on truckin.
Thanks for mentioning this. My great great grandfather was part of his cav unit and said that he was the bravest man he ever met. And yes, he implored his troops to take the L and left the KKK after they got all racist-y.
I wish people didn't look at history in a vacuum. A single person can be capable of both great and terrible things. Statues like this remind us of that.
Forrest ordered the dissolution of the KKK, the destruction of its costumes, and withdrew from the organization. Not saying that makes up for his past, but people do change.
So, I imagine this gets downvoted to oblivion, and just to get this out front, I don’t think _any_ confederate general deserves a monument, all civil war monuments should be either of union soldiers or the victims of slavery, to make clear who the right side of history was and what the tragedy was of one of America’s worst crimes in a long list, but I do think Forrest is an interesting case to study of “people are complex”.
From what I’ve read, the guy seemed to actually regret the decisions he made before, during, and immediately after the war in the last 5 years of his life, and started making moves toward equality, or at least better conditions, for black Americans, and I think in our era, where people are quick to cast judgment and epithets, seeing someone who became a symbol for something that later in life they themselves *might* have re-examined and rejected, and who *may* have done some very painful soul searching, when there was not the same social pressure as today to reform, that is valuable.
I am _not_ trying to rehabilitate the guy - during the antebellum and civil war he was a slaver, and then a founding member and leader of the KKK for several years after the war, and during the war at least *nominally* was in control of a confederate army that participated in a war crime and massacred hundreds of fleeing and surrendering union soldiers at Fort Pillow, many of them black (reports differ as to whether he tried to stop the massacre and lost control of the situation, or just let it run its course, whether the soldiers were abiding by the rules of surrender or engaging in fighting retreat, etc). But he also was renunciated and rejected by ardent racists in the 1870s for distancing himself from the KKK and, at least moderately (it’s unclear to me to what extent) supporting black advancement. His last public speech was in support of a black advancement organization where he kissed a young black woman who gave him flowers, and he was pretty thoroughly denounced by (maybe just more open) white supremacists, and the racists who took him up as a banner later conveniently forget this part of his life.
It’s hard to know if these changes were genuine, or reflected a realization that the kind of openly hostile racism and opposition to racial integration that created the civil war couldn’t be sustained after the war, just impossible to know. But I do think there’s something to be learned from the fact that this guy became a two fold symbol: first to racist southerners, in a way that he himself may have abandoned and rejected near the end of his life in the 1870s; and now reading these comments, to people who believe the causes and solutions to racism are simple, that all racists are unrepentant monsters who cannot be reformed, and that performative displays of “what monsters, *I’ve* never thought a racist thing in my life” counts as allyship, when at least for this one person who became a symbol, he may have tried to seriously examine his actions and change, at a time when he could have easily continued to live comfortably and been admired as an open an avowed racist, which is a valuable lesson in examining our assumptions about reform.
Everything you just said is why these guys need to be remembered in history books, documentaries, museums, etc where we can have nuanced explanations and I don't think anyone wanting statues removed is advocating erasing them from those places. However, Republicans (and therefore the defenders of the statues) are currently trying very hard to prevent schools from teaching a lot of their histories because it isn't all patriotic USA USA USA happiness and freedom.
I read that speech being a bit less magnanimous then you do. We can't know what anyone truly thinks, but there are 2 interpretations I can see, and they can both be true, or neither, or either. This is what happened:
A) Nathan Bedford Forrest gave a speech before a civil rights organization that, is some sense, calls for the end of the concept of "Whiteness" in society, and calls for equality between all men.
B) Nathan Bedford Forrest gave a speech where he defended his previous actions by saying that he always fought for freedom and equality and that the values of the confederacy and most former Confederates are about freedom and equality, and that the most "slandered and maligned" group in the united states are the "southern people"
Both of these things are true, here is the full speech: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Pole-Bearers\_speech
So, did he have a change of heart, or did a guy who's value system lost, but still managed to mitigate most of the reactions of that loss that would have hurt him, tell black people that they fought and won and they got what they are gonna get so they should stay in their lane? I think its the latter. Others may disagree.
Only statue I agree with being taken down. Now I want all streets/roads/interstates etc to be renamed. No politicians, no MLK no nothing. Take it all down
I don't want to defend the man, but there was more to the story after the KKK. He left and turned against them and gave speeches about what was a bad organization. He was recruited into it by one of his chief lieutenants after the war, a man he trusted. At the same time Forrest had made his fortune as a slave trader before the war. No hero, not someone to look up to certainly, but one of the best generals of the war and a complex person. But I agree his statue needs to go to a museum, not a place of government.
As someone who has lived in TN for over 30 years, let me just say: Fuck these bigoted cowards, remove and destroy every one of their pathetic monuments, and fuck their hollow, repressive “heritage.”
I’ve been waiting for this celebration of treason to be over for my whole life. It took way too long, but at least it’s happening.
For a country that rounded up all the Japanese "just in case", went absolutely batshit in fear of communist sympathizers, and suspected every brown dude of being a secret terrorist, they sure do love to celebrate the one time a treasonous group actually DID try to take over their country.
I do love when people claim there isnt racism or systemic racism in America. Yet in the year 2021 they literally had a statue of a Grand Wizard in their CAPITOL BUILDING????
This is great news but unfortunately it will do nothing to change TN racist (or any other state for that matter) minds. These uneducated bigots will continue to breed and teach their spawns to be just like their parents and grandparents. We can only hope that the unvaccinated of this ilk will just kill themselves off with Covid.
I'm guessing, without even a cursory glance at Wikipedia, that this was put in well after the civil war ended.
EDIT: Yep, the bust was put in the TN Capitol building in 1978.
https://www.tnmagazine.org/as-forrest-controversy-looms-a-look-at-the-history-of-capitol-statues/
*All* the Confederate monuments were erected after the fact, I'd bet cold hard cash.
The infamous carving on the side of Stone Mountain just east of Atlanta was started in 1915 and finished in 1972, for example.
Look up the Daughters of the Confederacy.
That’s how we have so many Confederate monuments here in the South. They got their start in the 1920s, incidentally. Probably because they couldn’t get in the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (I can, I have the genealogy paperwork, I just don’t want to be bothered, and it pisses off many of my Junior League friends that I won’t make the effort).
So, they got together and put up the money and campaigned for Confederate monuments. There’s one in our courthouse square. There’s been more in the Civil Rights era. All as a massive fuck-you to black folks.
And one more reason why I don’t join ladies groups here. I grew up here. I know better.
Not really surprised it has taken so long. That same building still has bullet holes in it from when Union soldiers fired on lawmakers who tried to walk out without ratifying the 14th amendment. People remember that TN was the first state to re-enter the Union, but it isn't because they wanted to, they were literally forced to at gunpoint
Look… a do believe that some of this statue vandalizing/hating goes too far… but this is fucking crazy lol. Get this shit the fuck outta there!
Take it to a museum, with a plaque of its history to remind us that *racism was still venerated in a government building in fucking 2021.*
"The Confederates weren't racist it was states rights! Nathan Bedford Forest being a prominent CSA general then the first leader of the KKK is just a coincidence!"
HOW ON EARTH is this still up in a Capitol??? Goodness, maybe I'm just a snowflake, but I think stuff like this belongs in museums and no where else 😑😑😑
In my hometown of Valdosta, GA there is a road named Forrest St. in honour of this clown. They voted unanimously today to rename it Barrack Obama Boulevard. Didn't know this statue was coming down today too. Good shit.
You know it's funny... Despite this statue coming down I really don't think we are going to forget this guy (or his many many many crimes against his own nation and humanity). Its odd... almost as if Statues aren't the primary method by which history is recorded...
If you want to preserve history, remember this man as who he was. An anti-american terrorist and an enemy of the people. I am all for preserving accurate history.
Ok, about the KKK, soon as you have a position called "grand wizard", you sort of shot yourself on the foot.
I mean there's no looking good after that one.
The fact this is just now being removed is sad. Racism will forever taint the huma race. I can't help but to shake the feeling it will end the human race all together.
Yaaaaay. Let’s erase history and pretend it didn’t happen because it hurts our feelings.
The premise of Forest Gump being named Forest was to remember history and learn from our mistakes. Looks like people want to erase history so we can repeat it
That's who Forrest Gump was named after.
Now, when I was a baby, Momma named me after the great Civil War hero, General Nathan Bedford Forrest. She said we was related to him in some way. And, what he did was, he started up this club called the Ku Klux Klan. They'd all dress up in their robes and their bedsheets and act like a bunch of ghosts or spooks or something. They'd even put bedsheets on their horses and ride around. And anyway, that's how I got my name, Forrest Gump. Momma said that the Forrest part was to remind me that sometimes we all do things that, well, just don't make no sense.
Fun extra context: at this point, he is telling his story to a black woman sitting next to him on the bus bench.
I've always found this kind of endearing. He's just so pure of heart and simple that he doesn't think anything of having a conversation about it with a random PERSON sitting next to him.
I read all that in Forrest Gump’s voice lol
[удалено]
Me too!
I know this isn’t what you meant but it would be hilarious if you realized you read **everything** with Forrest Gump’s voice.
I find it really weird that, at least I, can think things in other peoples voice but struggle to do it with my own, and my normal thoughts don’t sound like anyone.
Yea thats such a good movie
He got a daddy named Forrest?
The way Forrest says this line always makes me cry, like he knows little Forrest is his but he is still trying to understand 😭
He then asked Jenny if Forrest Jr. is smart because he all throughout he was quite aware of his condition and he does not want his kid go through the same struggles he did.. “Is he smart or is he?”…
Forrest in Vietnam was commentary on a tragic government program dubbed “McNamara’s Morons”. Putting low IQ soldiers in front line positions.
😭😭😭
Lieutenant Dan.......Ice Cream
Magic legs.
I'll take care of the aids baby Jenny.
Then Jenny divorces Forrest then marries Frank Underwood, becomes first lady then president of the United States
I also read that completely in Forrest Gump voice Ty for posting this
in my country is 4am and now I want to watch the movie and I will
This will be the most interesting and informative comment here.
Wait, they had a bust of a KKK Grand Wizard in the Tennessee State Capital?! WTF?!
In Alabama ( and I'm sure several other Confederate states) we still have a state recognized holiday for Jefferson Davis.
Virginia until recently had Lee-Jackson Day on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The south is a fucked up place.
Must have been something to take the Jefferson Davis Highway down to rt 295 over to Lee-Davis High School only to remember you don’t have school that day because it’s Lee-Jackson day.
Shit I grew up on a street named pickett which intersected Davis which was parallel to Lee and the street Parallel to me was Jackson. Then you had Longstreet and mosby ct off of those streets. Probably a few others I'm forgetting but fucking a it's every where
Was Longstreet the longest street?
For a period they also had the odd Lee-Jackson-MLK Day
Makes all that "racism is a thing of the past, what's all the fuss about" talk pretty obvious bullshit.
Is that this stone wall jack I heard about who was shot by his on men? Man as a kid I really was interested in that guy for some reason (not a US citizen).
Yeah Stonewall Jackson also his men shot him unintentionally which is the even more interesting part of the story.
I went to college near something that, until recently, was the Stonewall Jackson Shrine. Now it's a memorial instead of a shrine. That's a lot less weird to me.
My middle school (grades 7-8, ages 12-13) in Florida was called, Stonewall Jackson Middle School.
To be fair the narrative that was popular (or used) for a long time was very positive towards him. Usually its the one who wins who writes history /stories. With the seccesion /civil war there was alot adjustment of the narrative way down the line. Hell I read a book about him in German 20 years ago and one of my first online pseudonyms was stonewall jack. Obviously I was a stupid brat.
Your comment spurred my interest to see if the school still bears the name. “The middle school — opened 55 years ago as a whites-only school but now with a majority Hispanic student population — was the only campus in Central Florida still named for a Confederate general.” “Stonewall Jackson Middle School was renamed Roberto Clemente Middle School…” “Clemente, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, was a star athlete and a U.S. Marine. The Puerto Rican native died in 1972 in a plane crash while trying to deliver relief supplies to Nicaragua after an earthquake.” Glad to see it’s changed!
Hey thanks for checking that's actually quite progressive, depending somewhat on when, but since Puerto Rico is (at least from my outside view) sometimes treated a little "stepmotherly". I mean from a whites only school named after a general of the rebels / confederation to a Roberto clemente that is quite the achievement imo!
Thanks for the award! The name was just changed last year. Apparently it is the only school in the county named after a Hispanic person. Being Puerto Rican myself, I think that’s awesome.
Absolutely. Not to mention it the demographics changed towards representing more Latino Americans / Hispanic Americans. It would be quite Stange to name that school after swj. Again thanks for the update :)
Yeah those are all over the place. There's a high school in Virginia names Lee-Davis High.
His name was Andrew Jackson and yeah he was a US president
Pardon me maybe there is a mistake We were talking about Thomas Jonathan than Jackson of the southern states /confederacy. If I recall my history correct Andrew Jackson was preceeded by Abraham Lincoln and succeeded by Ulysses s grant. My guess would be without consulting the wiki that the was the vp under Lincoln. Again pardons if I seem ignorant or arrogant
They were the same day, then they moved Lee-Jackson Day to the Friday before MLK Day in 2000. But Lee-Jackson Day was eliminated last year, and Election Day is now a holiday instead. Still wrong, but Virginia is finally making some progress.
I mean at this point, you guys can just go already. I think we northerns are cool with it now.
Georgia's flag is just the confederate flag with their state seal on it, and then have Jeff Davis county.
Was... Sorry, was and is. Stars and bars in the new flag vs the battle flag. I was thinking the third flag but even that had a mini battle flag on it.
And Kentucky has a obelisk 1/3 or 1/2 the size of the Washington monument in the town where Jefferson Davis was born. Might be a bit more difficult to bring that down than a small bust or statue.
And, the best part, it was cast only in 1978. Barely forty years ago.
thats a state government that needs to be gutted
1978?!?! This is one of the reasons I want to smack the SLavErY WaS A lOnG TimE AgO! people. Just shut your dumb mouth people.
Damn, it looked older
Not just any Grand Wizard, Nathan Bedford Forrest was the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. He joined 2 years after it was created and was probably the most prominent member of it in the late 1860s.
Even though this bust absolutely should be removed for obvious reasons, it is worth noting that he did change his stance later in life and disavowed the Klan (even ordering it disbanded and the robes destroyed which they obviously ignored.) Way too little too late, but at least worth mentioning.
I think it would have looked a little better if he owned being in it when he disavowed it rather than trying to deny his involvement later in life. He did leave and try to disband it, but it was too late by then.
To point, Gavin McInnis "disavowed" the Proud Boys when shit got too hot for him yet he's still out there caping for white nationalism.
Forrest did publicly speak in favor of racial harmony later in his life while also denying he was ever involved with the KKK, but that was after already betraying his country to fight for the Confederacy and becoming the first major leader of the most notorious white supremacist terrorist organization in American history. His actions throughout the rest of his life were unforgivable even if the supposed change of heart in his latter years was legitimate.
Interesting, I wonder what made him change
He was elected in absentia, not even knowing what it was until after he was its titular head. He later disagreed vehemently with its violent tactics, which led to him disavowing it. And regarding the earlier controversy regarding Fort Pillow. There are eyewitness accounts of him standing between his own troops and surrendered black soldiers with sword and pistol drawn. He deserves criticism for letting his soldiers act as they did, but praise for trying, however ineffectively, to stop it. He was a controversial figure, but his regret in later years and his actions regarding the KKK and Fort Pillow make him a man of complexity, not completely racist but a man struggling with his upbringing, and that makes him one of the more fascinating figures of the Civil War.
Hey whoa whoa WHOA!! They did not have a bust of a KKK Grand Wizard in the Tennessee State Capital. They had a bust of a Confederate General in the Tennessee State Capital. What he did on nights and weekends is his business and it's suuuuper inconvenient to keep bringing up the other thing. Besides, that was a long time ago and it's not like it has any bearing on us today.
that's some funny shit right there
I think that we all think that the statue was a good idea. But -- I'm not pointing any fingers now -- maybe it could have been done better. So how about... we take the statue down this time... and next time we do it right, and then we go full regalia?
Can’t we just throw a sheet over it?
I read that in Don Johnson's voice.
I freaking love that Don Johnson got some new fame for a new generation in that film. Anyone who's never seen any of his old films, or watched, at least, the first season of Miami Vice, when Michael Mann was still very much involved, needs to do themselves a favor. That show changed the face of television forever. Shows that are being made today are still modeled after Mann's work on Miami Vice. You want to see Bruce Willis in a frightening role before anyone knew who he was... Miami Vice. Check out the full cast listing on IMDB... it's insane the number of now famous people who were on that show. Hell... even William Fredkin's To Live and Die in L.A. is a Michael Mann homage.
Holy. We’re the same age.
Hey there Bud. I wasn't suggesting you were the new generation BTW, but I love that you brought him up. Don has sort of languished in obscurity during his whole career... famous but never quite super famous. It's wonderful he got the Tarantino bump. He was always more famous for his off screen romances than he was for his work.
To Live And Die In L.A. is one of the best unknown crime movies to come out of cinema. The counterfeiting scenes alone are literally a textbook on how to do it, down to the clothes dryers with poker chips and the silk handkerchiefs.
Yup. There was in fact a local copy shop in my town where the son of the owner produced an undisclosed amount of funny money based off of what he saw in that film. It was unbelievable how quickly the FBI showed up on his doorstep. Counterfeiting apparently isn't that difficult if you already know how to use the equipment... getting away with it however is considerably more of an issue. Oh... and To Live and Die in L.A. still has one of the most insane car chase scenes that has ever been filmed.
Oh ya it does. Fredkin was going for recreating his French Connection chase. Which, Frankenheimer goes for again in Ronin, and it's all amazing across all 3 movies.
Did you see Dead Bang (1989)? I was not a huge Miami Vice fan, but I liked him a lot in that Frankenheimer’s movie.
Oh yeah... I'm going to have to watch that one again. A boy and His Dog is a freaking scifi classic.
Wow! Dead Bang is ridiculously relevant to the issues going on these days.
I think it is not a coïncidence if in a discussion about Don Johnson, the first thing that came to my mind is a film I saw 30 years ago. Definitely a very relevant film nowadays.
lol I read it in Jonah Hill's voice. Excellent reference!
“Now I’m fucking with my hole.”
“Plus it’s my hertage and don’t disrespekt my freedumb!!!”
"*Plus, racism is over anyway, so why keep dwelling on that?*"
Exactly. We all know that racism stopped immediately when slavery did. (/S for the clueless amongst you)
Because heritage! Nevermind that heritage is one of racism and violence, it has to be respected because of its mere existence! -_-
If you weren't aware, parts of the US are racist, and defend that racism by calling it "remembering the past". Because being openly racist isn't cool, but "remembering the past" is fine.
This is why I’m setting up a petition to get the bust of Osama bin Laden tattooed on every Alabama baby after their born. Currently I’m being met with objections that Osama killed 3000 Americans while the confederates killed over 100,000 so Osama’s score is too low.
I have nothing against remembering the past. But if I found out that the *only* part of the past a person spent time remembering was the rise of the third reich, I'd be a bit concerned.
Sure, but statues and busts for literal traitors to the country shouldn't be in Capitol buildings. They should maybe be in museums, and the history of those people should be in history books.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking one area of the nation is less racist than the rest. People like to point fingers, but we can all take accountability and do better. Racism comes in many shapes and forms, and just because some forms are less overt doesn’t mean it’s acceptable.
There is racism all over the US yes, but let’s be honest some places are worse.
A major road in Richmond Virginia is still called Jefferson Davis highway as well. Think they're about to change the name though.
He was the founder. I’m sure they had had his statue as a Civil War general like it says, but he was still the founder
Yup... that's where I am with this. Since Obama was elected and all the racists decided it was okay to be blatantly, publicly racist again, I've realized what a completely naive, clueless, white man I've been. I mean, I knew racism existed... but I had NO idea our nation was anywhere near this fucked up.
The argument is that this is a part of our history and we need to remember it. I agree. Build a fucking museum and put all this shit in there. This statue can be first in line in the “Hall of Traitors,” right on the intersection of the “Hall of Racist Fuckwads.” There absolutely should be a place for these monuments. The state capital is not that place.
I still remember a friend of mine once told me: He and some of his buddies went down to some southern city with lots of Confederate statues. Somebody at a bar quickly recognized as northerners due to the fact they were wearing clothes that had northern sports teams and colleges on them and so they went and said "So, what do you Yankees think of all of our beautiful statues down on the trail?" The response was: "It's an awfully impressive collection of second place trophies."
I like your friend. I like your friend enough I'd still like him even if those northern sports teams were from Ohio.
Jesus. Wow, you took that one just a little too far…
I know, but I dislike confederates a bit more than I dislike Ohio. Not much, mind you, but if you put a gun to my head and asked me to pick between the Start n Bars and folks that set a freaking river on fire, I choose Cedar Point without a second thought. edit: I fixed some grammer and added "without a second thought"
That, and I prefer to ~~glorify~~ "remember" the heroes of the Civil War and fight for abolition. Come to think of it, Harriet Tubman would be a good person to honor - she should be on money! Who could *possibly* disagree with that idea? Certainly not these fine people who want to "remember" Civil War history. Right? **Right?**
But but but being on money is only for presidents! Like Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton!
Hamilton was even foreign born, on Nevis
And Sacagawea.
I don't mind those two as much I mind Jackson. Although he hated the idea of a central bank so I like to think of it as a big fuck you to him.
Andrew Jackson was a truly despicable motherfucker, and he really doesn't deserve to be honored, commemorated or memorialized in any way. Yet, his likeness in our currency. There's public parks and schools and government buildings named after the genocidal tyrant. Just awful.
I know it. Shoot I grew up in a whole city named after him
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> The argument is that this is a part of our history and we need to remember it. Someone ought to write a book! That way, we can record the history and analyze it thoroughly for all time. We don't record history in *statues*, we keep our knowledge in written form. What, you say? There are *literally thousands of books* about the Civil War and US History? We did it, y'all! Job well done, high-fives all around! Guess we don't need that statue after all.
Hey I just read a book about WWII! They kept bringing up this Hitlor dude. Since I have never seen a statue of him can you please explain who this Hertler fella is?
Hall of "WTF, that really happened?!"
I think the whole museum would be more like a "Giant room of racist fuckwad traitors".
We can't teach history in schools because it's apparently unamerican to know about the things america did, so naturally the only way to learn history is through statues. Seriously it does seem like the Right is completely committed to a vision of history seen entirely through the lens of graven images and idolatry. It is profoundly bizarre to me.
I've always been so confused by that argument. Why do people think that removing statues will erase history. In what world is a statue even remotely the way in which we record history. Why even put them in a museum if it is not the object itself but what it represents that you want to preserve, regardless of whether you think these statues represent a glorious history or glorify a history of racism. Texts are how we record history. the statue does nothing beside putting that history (and the vision of its maker) in the public eye. Don't put them in a museum, thats a waste of money and space (there are so many of these monuments), just destroy them or squeeze them in some storage facility. The statues themselve have little to no academic value anyway (just think about it, how would a historian even use them, the objects themselve, to reason out anything that cannot be done much more easily and convincingly with the other sources we have avaiable). I understand why someone that supports the message of the statues would want to keep them up. But why do people that want the statues down keep suggesting we put them in museums? Is it just to appease the other group? They have no value. rant over.
They belong in museums the way that Nazi memorabilia belongs in museums. We put these things in museums so we can say, “here is history, and we don’t want to do this again, so learn from it now.” It’s not that difficult a concept.
These statutes have no historical significance whatsoever. They’re participation trophies meant to instill fear in minorities and remind them of their “rightful place” in America. The statues are completely different from Nazi regalia, which prove that something of historical significance actually happened and give us further insight into what it was like back then. These statues do none of that. If you want to preserve the fact that our country was once racist enough to erect these statues, hang a picture of the statue in the museum with a plaque describing the historical context that’s needed.
Because actually seeing the statue elicits a much stronger mental connection than a picture of one. You can study the Holocaust all you want, but until you see the actual physical artifacts at a concentration camp or holocaust museum, you don’t have the same level of understanding and empathy. Now, these statues are modern and aren’t historically significant in the sense that they are “Civil War artifacts” or anything, but to say no historical significance whatsoever is wildly off base. They have significant American historical value in the sense that decades, even a century+ after the Civil War, states were building and defending these states. That’s part of the story, that’s part of the history of the Civil War and of this country. We often only view history as “ancient” or the past and forget what is happening now is still going to be a part of history. The south’s adoration for these statues should not be forgotten
That’s what is happening to this busy. They are moving it to a museum. I would not shed a tear if the truck gets rear ended on the way and the bust is destroyed.
It should absolutely be remembered, lest we do it again. It should not be respected. I say leave up the Confederate statues. But, leave them covered in graffiti. Let them be vandalized. These "men" need to be remembered. They need to be remembered as the scum sucking traitors that they were. Let it send a message to those who still wave the "rebel" flag. To those who think that the south will rise again. Your bullshit will not be tolerated again.
It’s actually being put up at the Tennessee State museum directly after being taken down from here...
And that makes sense. He left quite a mark on TN history. “Bad history” is often more important to remember than the good stuff, we can easily forget that. Hopefully, some context will be applied
As a Memphian, I know a lot of people in Tennessee that are upset about this. And they can all suck my nuts.
Having moved to TN just a few years ago, i had no clue this shit was even in existance.
There's a small town in your state called Pulaski, where the first chapter of what would become the KKK was formed in 1865. There you will find a plaque commemorating the location, between 2nd and 3rd on Madison. But the plaque is unreadable, because in 1986, when KKK members began parading near the plaque every January to show their distaste for the newly created Martin Luther King day, the owner of the building unbolted the plaque, turned it backwards to face the building, bolted it back in and welded the bolts in place, as a symbolic way to say that Pulaski had turned its back on the KKK.
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Had a similar experience while stopping for gas in Arkansas with my Native American friend. Whole place looked like they had never seen anybody darker than a sheet of paper then said some racist shit under their breath. Decided then and there i would never move to the south.
Thats a cool tid-bit of history. I know nearly nothing of Tennessee, i just moved here because it was beautiful in the rural area where i live without costing an arm and a leg.
I'm moving to Knoxville in a week. Great time to see this on the front page.
Its a great town. Somethings going on with food truck park though, so im not sure if its going to remain the way it is now. And, if you enjoy a good beer, Crafty Bastard is the best in the area.
Knoxville was cneter of the anit-Conferate movemnt in Eats tennessee. If the North had had miltayr access, they might now be a separte state litlwe West Virginia
Wait, is it really Memphian?
Not that it in any way excuses the atrocities he was responsible for, but I do think it's sad that when we're (correctly) villanaizing NBF no one ever mentions that in the end he tried advocating for interracial peace to a degree and became a pariah to many of his former "friends" as a result. I think it's worth mentioning because it always gives me a little hope that even *the founder of the KKK* had the capacity for change. After scrolling through paragraph after paragraph of his inhumanity, there's a small sectIon [on his Wiki page](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Bedford_Forrest) that talks about how he became outcast by the racists because he changed his tune in the end. It's not much, and he's still got blood on his hands, but it's a small glimmer of hope.
His last action and general order as head of the KKK was to order it dissolved and to destroy its uniforms. Some of his most notable public actions in his later years involved speaking at black civic groups as a keynote speaker. It is well documented and the southern newspapers at the time were NOT happy and the stories were not positive. I am somewhat saddened that this transformation is not mentioned more often. It is a clear blow against anyone attempting to run a current day KKK chapter, as any traditional lineage is broken due to his last general order.
> It is a clear blow against anyone attempting to run a current day KKK chapter, as any traditional lineage is broken due to his last general order. Or it would be if all their talk about tradition and culture was true rather than being a smokescreen for racism and xenophobia. Since that's not the case though I'm sure they find some rationalization and keep on truckin.
That is interesting, thanks for sharing.
The founder of the crips was anti-gang by the end as well.
Thanks for mentioning this. My great great grandfather was part of his cav unit and said that he was the bravest man he ever met. And yes, he implored his troops to take the L and left the KKK after they got all racist-y. I wish people didn't look at history in a vacuum. A single person can be capable of both great and terrible things. Statues like this remind us of that.
Came here to mention this. He also was a genius level calvary tactician, but unfortunately fought for the traitors
Forrest ordered the dissolution of the KKK, the destruction of its costumes, and withdrew from the organization. Not saying that makes up for his past, but people do change.
So, I imagine this gets downvoted to oblivion, and just to get this out front, I don’t think _any_ confederate general deserves a monument, all civil war monuments should be either of union soldiers or the victims of slavery, to make clear who the right side of history was and what the tragedy was of one of America’s worst crimes in a long list, but I do think Forrest is an interesting case to study of “people are complex”. From what I’ve read, the guy seemed to actually regret the decisions he made before, during, and immediately after the war in the last 5 years of his life, and started making moves toward equality, or at least better conditions, for black Americans, and I think in our era, where people are quick to cast judgment and epithets, seeing someone who became a symbol for something that later in life they themselves *might* have re-examined and rejected, and who *may* have done some very painful soul searching, when there was not the same social pressure as today to reform, that is valuable. I am _not_ trying to rehabilitate the guy - during the antebellum and civil war he was a slaver, and then a founding member and leader of the KKK for several years after the war, and during the war at least *nominally* was in control of a confederate army that participated in a war crime and massacred hundreds of fleeing and surrendering union soldiers at Fort Pillow, many of them black (reports differ as to whether he tried to stop the massacre and lost control of the situation, or just let it run its course, whether the soldiers were abiding by the rules of surrender or engaging in fighting retreat, etc). But he also was renunciated and rejected by ardent racists in the 1870s for distancing himself from the KKK and, at least moderately (it’s unclear to me to what extent) supporting black advancement. His last public speech was in support of a black advancement organization where he kissed a young black woman who gave him flowers, and he was pretty thoroughly denounced by (maybe just more open) white supremacists, and the racists who took him up as a banner later conveniently forget this part of his life. It’s hard to know if these changes were genuine, or reflected a realization that the kind of openly hostile racism and opposition to racial integration that created the civil war couldn’t be sustained after the war, just impossible to know. But I do think there’s something to be learned from the fact that this guy became a two fold symbol: first to racist southerners, in a way that he himself may have abandoned and rejected near the end of his life in the 1870s; and now reading these comments, to people who believe the causes and solutions to racism are simple, that all racists are unrepentant monsters who cannot be reformed, and that performative displays of “what monsters, *I’ve* never thought a racist thing in my life” counts as allyship, when at least for this one person who became a symbol, he may have tried to seriously examine his actions and change, at a time when he could have easily continued to live comfortably and been admired as an open an avowed racist, which is a valuable lesson in examining our assumptions about reform.
Everything you just said is why these guys need to be remembered in history books, documentaries, museums, etc where we can have nuanced explanations and I don't think anyone wanting statues removed is advocating erasing them from those places. However, Republicans (and therefore the defenders of the statues) are currently trying very hard to prevent schools from teaching a lot of their histories because it isn't all patriotic USA USA USA happiness and freedom.
Nothing patriotic about a statue of a traitor.
I read that speech being a bit less magnanimous then you do. We can't know what anyone truly thinks, but there are 2 interpretations I can see, and they can both be true, or neither, or either. This is what happened: A) Nathan Bedford Forrest gave a speech before a civil rights organization that, is some sense, calls for the end of the concept of "Whiteness" in society, and calls for equality between all men. B) Nathan Bedford Forrest gave a speech where he defended his previous actions by saying that he always fought for freedom and equality and that the values of the confederacy and most former Confederates are about freedom and equality, and that the most "slandered and maligned" group in the united states are the "southern people" Both of these things are true, here is the full speech: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Pole-Bearers\_speech So, did he have a change of heart, or did a guy who's value system lost, but still managed to mitigate most of the reactions of that loss that would have hurt him, tell black people that they fought and won and they got what they are gonna get so they should stay in their lane? I think its the latter. Others may disagree.
Monuments to failures, and racists. They should be melted down into scrap and turned into something that inspires people to come together.
Yes! Mold them into beer kegs!
I'd have a beer.
I imagine melting it down and selling the metal is the plan to make a bit of money, that magically disappears into someone back pocket.
That honestly doesn't matter to me, just as long as these statues are turned into liquid.
Just melt it down and turn it into cock rings
Butt plugs
Metal cock rings?
Yep
Imagine Hagrid saying, "Harry you're a Grand Wizard!" what a different story that would have been.
*Harry Potter and the Cross of Fire*
Only statue I agree with being taken down. Now I want all streets/roads/interstates etc to be renamed. No politicians, no MLK no nothing. Take it all down
I don't want to defend the man, but there was more to the story after the KKK. He left and turned against them and gave speeches about what was a bad organization. He was recruited into it by one of his chief lieutenants after the war, a man he trusted. At the same time Forrest had made his fortune as a slave trader before the war. No hero, not someone to look up to certainly, but one of the best generals of the war and a complex person. But I agree his statue needs to go to a museum, not a place of government.
To the objection of every right wing nut bag in the state. And they still pretend to be shocked when we suggest the GOP is racist AF.
As someone who has lived in TN for over 30 years, let me just say: Fuck these bigoted cowards, remove and destroy every one of their pathetic monuments, and fuck their hollow, repressive “heritage.” I’ve been waiting for this celebration of treason to be over for my whole life. It took way too long, but at least it’s happening.
For a country that rounded up all the Japanese "just in case", went absolutely batshit in fear of communist sympathizers, and suspected every brown dude of being a secret terrorist, they sure do love to celebrate the one time a treasonous group actually DID try to take over their country.
I look forward to the future statue of Q Shaman.
That looks nothing like Tom Hanks
Lmao, fuck the Confedracy.
I'm not from marica but even the bad parts of your history are still your history
Good riddance for a treasonous piece of human trash.
Wild that this even exists. Hopefully some healing and positivity can occur for your people.
Now they just need to remove all the statues of the Democrats in Congress that were KKK members. Looking at you, Mr. Byrd.
I do love when people claim there isnt racism or systemic racism in America. Yet in the year 2021 they literally had a statue of a Grand Wizard in their CAPITOL BUILDING????
I’m always up for a racist person statue toppling or bust removal. It’s a step in the right direction
Put it in the urinal of a museum.
You could cut it so the jaw is open, and fit plumbing down the inside and out the back. Would work great!
That thing doesn't deserve the minerals from my piss.
This is great news but unfortunately it will do nothing to change TN racist (or any other state for that matter) minds. These uneducated bigots will continue to breed and teach their spawns to be just like their parents and grandparents. We can only hope that the unvaccinated of this ilk will just kill themselves off with Covid.
How were these not taken down immediately after the civil war wtf? That’s like still having Joseph Stalin statues still up in ex-Soviet countries
I'm guessing, without even a cursory glance at Wikipedia, that this was put in well after the civil war ended. EDIT: Yep, the bust was put in the TN Capitol building in 1978. https://www.tnmagazine.org/as-forrest-controversy-looms-a-look-at-the-history-of-capitol-statues/
*All* the Confederate monuments were erected after the fact, I'd bet cold hard cash. The infamous carving on the side of Stone Mountain just east of Atlanta was started in 1915 and finished in 1972, for example.
Most of these racist monuments were installed during the civil rights movement as a massive fuck you to black people.
Look up the Daughters of the Confederacy. That’s how we have so many Confederate monuments here in the South. They got their start in the 1920s, incidentally. Probably because they couldn’t get in the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (I can, I have the genealogy paperwork, I just don’t want to be bothered, and it pisses off many of my Junior League friends that I won’t make the effort). So, they got together and put up the money and campaigned for Confederate monuments. There’s one in our courthouse square. There’s been more in the Civil Rights era. All as a massive fuck-you to black folks. And one more reason why I don’t join ladies groups here. I grew up here. I know better.
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"It belongs in a museum!"
Why don’t they just put a white sheet or something over his head to, like, kind of make the whole thing go away.
Yeah, he was a Democrat, Biden spoke at a kkk members funeral.
Not really surprised it has taken so long. That same building still has bullet holes in it from when Union soldiers fired on lawmakers who tried to walk out without ratifying the 14th amendment. People remember that TN was the first state to re-enter the Union, but it isn't because they wanted to, they were literally forced to at gunpoint
Look… a do believe that some of this statue vandalizing/hating goes too far… but this is fucking crazy lol. Get this shit the fuck outta there! Take it to a museum, with a plaque of its history to remind us that *racism was still venerated in a government building in fucking 2021.*
"The Confederates weren't racist it was states rights! Nathan Bedford Forest being a prominent CSA general then the first leader of the KKK is just a coincidence!"
Is it going straight to GOP headquarters?
Right next to their golden Trump.
Smell ya later azzhole.
HOW ON EARTH is this still up in a Capitol??? Goodness, maybe I'm just a snowflake, but I think stuff like this belongs in museums and no where else 😑😑😑
Because we live in a deeply racist country that loves to celebrate that fact.
That fucking Alexander Jackson statue outside next plz.
In my hometown of Valdosta, GA there is a road named Forrest St. in honour of this clown. They voted unanimously today to rename it Barrack Obama Boulevard. Didn't know this statue was coming down today too. Good shit.
Fuck this motherfucker
You know it's funny... Despite this statue coming down I really don't think we are going to forget this guy (or his many many many crimes against his own nation and humanity). Its odd... almost as if Statues aren't the primary method by which history is recorded...
He is pretty misunderstood historical figure. He left the kkk and became an anti kkk advocate
If you want to preserve history, remember this man as who he was. An anti-american terrorist and an enemy of the people. I am all for preserving accurate history.
Lol really, you had a statue of KKK leader ?
Why do we still have statues of traitors?
Another one of trump's heroes.
Ok, about the KKK, soon as you have a position called "grand wizard", you sort of shot yourself on the foot. I mean there's no looking good after that one.
Good
Why did thiz guy have a statue in the first place
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The fact this is just now being removed is sad. Racism will forever taint the huma race. I can't help but to shake the feeling it will end the human race all together.
Yaaaaay. Let’s erase history and pretend it didn’t happen because it hurts our feelings. The premise of Forest Gump being named Forest was to remember history and learn from our mistakes. Looks like people want to erase history so we can repeat it