A Confederate monument will remain in one of Nashville s most-visited public parks after the Tennessee Historical Commission on Friday rejected the city s efforts to move it.
Tennessee to remove monument of KKK leader from state Capitol
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The Tennessee Historical Commission on Tuesday voted 25-1 in favor of removing the bust of Ku Klux Klan leader and Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state Capitol, per the Tennessean.
Why it matters: This is the first time the state has contemplated the removal of a monument or statue in the capitol under the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, the state s Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said in a statement sharing his concerns over the precedent, per News Channel 3.
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Gov. Bill Lee now has permission to remove from the Tennessee state Capitol the bust of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a process he has pursued much of the last year despite resistance from the legislature, which continues to push back against the statue s relocation.
25 to 1 in favor of relocating the Forrest bust to the Tennessee State Museum, the alternative venue for a monument to the early Ku Klux Klan leader that members of the African American community and anti-racist advocates have sought for years.
The meeting lasted more than five hours as commissioners heard testimony from 30 speakers, the vast majority of them in favor of relocating the bust. Historians, pastors, activists and other interested citizens were among those who remained on the line of the virtual meeting for hours waiting to speak, as they have during past meetings of the Capitol and Historical commissions.
The Tennessee Historical Commission on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to support removing the bust of Ku Klux Klan leader and Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state Capitol.