Tennessee votes to remove bust of Ku Klux Klan leader

THE bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader that had been displayed in the Tennessee Capitol building for decades was yesterday removed from its pedestal.

The image of Nathan Bedford Forrest has led to protests ever since its installation in 1978. Some suggested adding historical context, while others, including Bill Lee, the state governor, successfully argued for it to be moved to the Tennessee State Museum.

Forrest was a Confederate cavalry general who amassed a fortune before the Civil War as a Memphis slave trader and plantation owner.

Later, he was a leader of the Klan as it terrorised black communities, reversing reconstruction efforts and restoring white power in the south.

The House of Representatives last month voted to remove all Confederate statues from public display on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, as the US faces a reckoning over its past.

Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, said removing the statues would not erase the stain of racist acts from US history, nor erase racism in the US today. But she asked: “How can we expect to end the scourge of racism … when we allow the worst perpetrators of that racism to be lauded in the halls of Congress?”

The busts of Union Navy Admiral David Farragut and US Navy Admiral Albert Gleaves were also moved to the Tennessee State Museum yesterday.

Tennessee’s Black legislative caucus was particularly vocal about how painful it was to walk past the Forrest bust between the House and Senate chambers as they carried out their work each day.

“Removing the likeness of Nathan Bedford Forrest from a place of honour in Tennessee’s Capitol is a symbol for much needed reconciliation.

“No doubt we have work to do to achieve equality and justice for all people, but today’s vote shows that progress is possible,” said Senator Raumesh Akbari, a Black politician from Memphis who chairs the Senate’s Democratic caucus.

Tennessee’s State Building Commission voted 5-2 to remove the busts on Thursday, the final hurdle in a long-running process.