Memphis dumps Nathan Bedford Forrest, Jefferson Davis, and Confederate Parks

[memphis]

http://wreg.com/2013/02/05/council-changes-parks-names-tells-nashville-to-back-off/

Do your brain cells a favor. Don't read all the comments at the bottom. The people who reply to local news stories about Confederate symbolism aren't the brightest crayons in the box.
I wonder what they will do with the big statue of Forrest up on his horse. There are no plans to rename Forrest Avenue.

[pbrower2a]

http://wreg.com/2013/02/05/council-changes-parks-names-tells-nashville-to-back-off/

Do your brain cells a favor. Don't read all the comments at the bottom. The people who reply to local news stories about Confederate symbolism aren't the brightest crayons in the box.
I wonder what they will do with the big statue of Forrest up on his horse. There are no plans to rename Forrest Avenue.

Some of those scribblers sound as if they would have been happier in Germany 80 years ago.

Forrest? Scrap metal, of course. Save the horse though. Horses had their role in building the South.

[memphis]

What's most striking to me are that the people screaming loudest about preserving history are the least likely to give an inks about any historic preservation work anywhere else in the city. For example, there was recently a big debate over an old rundown church just a couple of miles away that was eventually demolished to build a CVS. The conservatives were routinely criticizing the preservationists who were trying to  save the church, which was, to be fair, wasn't all that interesting and was also well past the point of saving. These people only care about history, when the History of the Sacred Confederacy is on the line. Most of them don't even live in Memphis, preferring the "safety" of the suburbs. Perhaps if they hadn't all fled, they would have had the votes on the city council to keep Nathan Bedford Forrest Park.
Furthermore, here's the deal with Mr. Forrest. His wishes were to be buried at Elmwood Cemetary, here in Memphis. And he was. Until a group of Lost Causers dug his bones up and founded Forrest Park a few decades later. And still he remains more than 100 years later.

The park is in the city's Medical District, just outside downtown. Although the largest hospital closed and was demolished several years back, there are still several smaller hospitals in the area as well as the University of Tennesee Medical School, the Southern College of Optometry, and Southwest Tennessee Community College, all of which train the city's healthcare workers. I think a Medical Park with a small display, giving a brief summary of the region's healthcare would be cool. The neighborhood became a medical area during the yellow fever epidemics of the late 19th century. It was outside of the city then and it was a good idea to take contagious victims out of the city. Some recognition of this would be very nice.
I am rather resentful at the state government in Nashville, again, trying to meddle in local affairs. We've already endured plenty of their attempts to micromanage our schools. Why should the state have any say over the name of a city park? There is already a Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park a couple of hours east of here, and the state government is more than welcome to do whatever it likes with that park.

[pbrower2a]

Maybe western Tennessee needs to secede -- from central and eastern Tennessee.

[justfollowingtheelections]

http://wreg.com/2013/02/05/council-changes-parks-names-tells-nashville-to-back-off/

Do your brain cells a favor. Don't read all the comments at the bottom. The people who reply to local news stories about Confederate symbolism aren't the brightest crayons in the box.
I wonder what they will do with the big statue of Forrest up on his horse. There are no plans to rename Forrest Avenue.

No, I took the time to read the comments, just to see how ugly racism in the South really is.

Read this for example from an old white lady:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

We would have been a much better country if we had let you secede.

[memphis]

Maybe western Tennessee needs to secede -- from central and eastern Tennessee.

We'd be a rock solid 4 or 5 EVs for the Democrats.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I don't know why they should rename these parks, though the comparison you made about the church being preserved was true.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I don't know why they should rename these parks, though the comparison you made about the church being preserved was true.

Probably because a sizable portion of the Memphis voting populace no longer wants to cherish and celebrate the Confederacy, an evil entity in support of slavery and the treasonous destruction of the American union. Especially when African Americans now make up 64% of the population of Memphis. Can you blame them for wanting to raze sh**tty tributes to the people who fought and saw people die to ensure they remain in chains?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I don't know why they should rename these parks, though the comparison you made about the church being preserved was true.

Probably because a sizable portion of the Memphis voting populace no longer wants to cherish and celebrate the Confederacy, an evil entity in support of slavery and the treasonous destruction of the American union. Especially when African Americans now make up 64% of the population of Memphis. Can you blame them for wanting to raze sh**tty tributes to the people who fought and saw people die to ensure they remain in chains?

I see why they would want the park renamed. I understand that completely. Do British people want to take down the Washington monument because he was the first crack in their empire? I don't care about the parks name, I just don't see the point in picking the fight with the rednecks/lost causers to begin with.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I don't know why they should rename these parks, though the comparison you made about the church being preserved was true.

Probably because a sizable portion of the Memphis voting populace no longer wants to cherish and celebrate the Confederacy, an evil entity in support of slavery and the treasonous destruction of the American union. Especially when African Americans now make up 64% of the population of Memphis. Can you blame them for wanting to raze sh**tty tributes to the people who fought and saw people die to ensure they remain in chains?

I see why they would want the park renamed. I understand that completely. Do British people want to take down the Washington monument because he was the first crack in their empire? I don't care about the parks name, I just don't see the point in picking the fight with the rednecks/lost causers to begin with.

Because, as history has shown, twisting their ing hands is the only way to get them to not be awful human beings when it comes to dealing with people of a differing race. Fetishizing someone who made his fortune trading in slaves and became the first grand wizard of the KKK in a 64%+ black town (nevermind in any town) is a pretty horrendous thing that we should all be OK with changing.

And PS, Washington wasn't fighting his war to enslave the British, so that's a pretty terrible analogy to make right there. There also aren't a heck of a lot of statues dedicated to George Washington in Britain, which is probably one of the only places you'll actually find a 64%+ British population.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I don't know why they should rename these parks, though the comparison you made about the church being preserved was true.

Probably because a sizable portion of the Memphis voting populace no longer wants to cherish and celebrate the Confederacy, an evil entity in support of slavery and the treasonous destruction of the American union. Especially when African Americans now make up 64% of the population of Memphis. Can you blame them for wanting to raze sh**tty tributes to the people who fought and saw people die to ensure they remain in chains?

I see why they would want the park renamed. I understand that completely. Do British people want to take down the Washington monument because he was the first crack in their empire? I don't care about the parks name, I just don't see the point in picking the fight with the rednecks/lost causers to begin with.

Because, as history has shown, twisting their ing hands is the only way to get them to not be awful human beings when it comes to dealing with people of a differing race. Fetishizing someone who made his fortune trading in slaves and became the first grand wizard of the KKK in a 64%+ black town (nevermind in any town) is a pretty horrendous thing that we should all be OK with changing.

And PS, Washington wasn't fighting his war to enslave the British, so that's a pretty terrible analogy to make right there. There also aren't a heck of a lot of statues dedicated to George Washington in Britain, which is probably one of the only places you'll actually find a 64%+ British population.

Honestly, I have to once again bow down in defeat on this one. Not only is my analogy wrong, but I don't know why I almost instinctively defended the south. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate flag is one thing, but for God’s sake, we are talking about Nathan Bedford Forest!!

[Simfan34]

I don't know why they should rename these parks, though the comparison you made about the church being preserved was true.

We don't name things after traitors.

Honestly, I have to once again bow down in defeat on this one. Not only is my analogy wrong, but I don't know why I almost instinctively defended the south. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate flag is one thing, but for God’s sake, we are talking about Nathan Bedford Forest!!

It's because your libertarian, revisonist, neoconfederate "states rights" feelers tingled.

The appropriate thing to do would be to hold a public toppling ceremony where participants proceed to smash the statues, burn the signs and Confederate flags, followed by the deliverance of patriotic speeches while flags are waved and patriotic songs are sung. Thoughout this ceremony, racists should be hit with sticks.