The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:30 PM

Crew Removes Confederate Statue of Former State Dem Leader, KKK Leader From Memphis Park

A crew removed a Confederate statue of a former state Democratic Party, KKK leader, from a Memphis park Wednesday night after the city sold it to a private entity.

The City Council had earlier voted unanimously to sell two parks where Confederate statues were located and crews began working right away to remove a statue of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.

The parks were sold to Greenspace Inc. for $1,000 each, The Commercial Appeal reported . Memphis Chief Legal Officer Bruce McMullen said Greenspace can legally remove the statues, which the city was unable to do.

Live video from Health Sciences Park captured cheers as the statue of Forrest was lifted off its marble base and placed on a flatbed truck late Wednesday. Police had cordoned off the area around the statue.

A statue of President Jefferson Davis is at Fourth Bluff Park, where police had blocked off surrounding streets.

McMullen said the statues would be stored in an undisclosed location.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland tweeted that the work underway in the parks complies with state law.

Earlier this month, the city filed a petition asking for judicial review of the Tennessee Historical Commission’s denial of a request to remove the Forrest statue.

“I commend Mayor Strickland and the City Council for finding a way to legally remove statues from an era that is not representative of Memphis today and have remained an affront to most of the citizens of Memphis,” U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis, said in a statement.

Cities have tried to remove Confederate monuments after the racially motivated massacre of nine people at a black church in South Carolina and a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Protesters have called for the removal of the Forrest statue, saying it represents racism and bigotry. City leaders have discussed ways to relocate the statue and move his remains, which are buried under the monument.

Supporters of keeping the statue in place say it represents an important part of history. The Sons of Confederate Veterans in Memphis has said such monuments do not represent white supremacy and it would be a mistake to remove them.

“It is a deliberate attempt to avoid the state law and the city is breaking the law,” Lee Millar with Sons of Confederate Veterans told WREG-TV on Wednesday.

Forrest was a slave trader, Confederate general, Democrat Party Leader, and Ku Klux Klan leader who became influential in the city’s growth after the Civil War.