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Subscribe to RSSAfter three Confederate-themed public parks in Memphis, Tenn., were renamed, a man claiming to be a top Ku Klux Klansman says the group is planning the "largest" protest rally the city "has ever seen." WMC's Jason Miles reports.
Published 5:45 p.m. ET: The renaming of three Confederate-themed parks in Memphis has spurred foes — including a purported Ku Klux Klan leader known as the “Exalted Cyclops” — to lash out against what they say are attempts to erase history. Others, however, maintain such symbols and monuments represent racism and have to go.
The Memphis City Council, fearful of intervention by state legislators, voted late Tuesday to approve changing the name of Forrest Park to Health Sciences Park. Confederate Park became Memphis Park and and Jefferson Davis Park, named for the president of the Confederacy, was renamed Mississippi River Park.
The vote was 9-0 – seven African-American council members and two white council members voted for the changes -- with three council members abstaining and one council member absent.
Forrest Park for years has stirred up emotions. It contains the grave of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate cavalry leader who traded slaves before the war and went on to become the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, the infamous hate group that carried out a merciless campaign of lynchings, church fires and other terror against African Americans as well as other immigrant groups.
During the war, troops under Forrest's command notoriously were accused of slaughtering Federal black troops after the Battle of Fort Pillow. The "Fort Pillow Massacre" became a rallying cry for the Union, according to historians.
“The parks are changed. It's done," Councilman Lee Harris, told The Commercial Appeal. "We removed controversial names and named them something that is less controversial."
Harris told Reuters, “We are becoming a city that is inclusive and respectful … Those names were dividing rather than uniting."
Adrian Sainz / AP photo
Formerly known as Confederate Park in downtown Memphis, Tenn., this downtown park will now be called Memphis Park. Two other Confederate-themed parks were also renamed by the Memphis City Council.
Memphis is just over 63 percent African-American, according to 2010 U.S. Census figures.
The honoring of Confederate heroes and emblems — such as the flying of the Confederate flag — has been a divisive issue in the South for years, so the Memphis vote surely doesn’t end the debate.
“They’re trying to get rid of history. They’re trying to rewrite it,” Katherine Blalock told the Appeal after the vote.
And in an interview with WMC-TV, a man calling himself a KKK leader known as the “Exalted Cyclops” -- he refused to reveal his true identify and said to call him “Edward” -- said he was calling all fellow klansmen to join him in the “largest rally Memphis, Tennessee had ever seen.” He said they would rally in the former Forrest Park.
"It's not going to be 20 or 30," Edward said. "It's going to be thousands of klansmen from the whole United States coming to Memphis, Tennessee."
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors the Klan, all four of the known Klan groups in Tennessee are small and fairly disorganized. So, it was unclear if such a large rally was even possible.
Still, the city’s top administrator, George Little, said that critics, including the KKK, were free to protest.
"Should they do so and gather lawfully, then we wouldn't get any more involved with that than we would with any other group," Little said.
The move by the Memphis council was meant to counter efforts in the Tennessee legislature to preserve Confederacy-related names.
One of the sponsors of a bill that would ban renaming of historical parks and monuments in the state told The Commercial Appeal that he would not seek to retroactively have the names of the three parks in Memphis restored but would seek to preserve Confederate history elsewhere.
“We’ve got monuments on the Capitol grounds that I wouldn’t have approved of putting there but they are there and they are part of our history, State Rep. Steve McDaniel said. “Changing names or removing monuments could have the appearance of trying to re-write history.”
NBCNews.com’s M. Alex Johnson and Reuters contributed to this report
Leave a Comment:
I think the Klan rally is a great idea! All the CIA has to do is fire a few Hellfire missiles from a Predator drone and we wipe out hundreds of racists! Sweet!
you suck. plain and simple.
JFD28
And exactly how is my statement racist? Don't know what you have but I bet it's hard to pronounce.
These silly Democrats are always looking to have a rally for something.....
Very strange article. All the hateful people here....
Be careful! Memphis is about 90% black.Are you calling all those black folk...Hateful! Could it be true?
Memphis is NOT 90% Black. It's more than half, but probably less than 60%.
For God's sake, leave the names alone. History IS history. Oh let me see.....the Lorraine Motel....... as many other historical landmarks....what about the "slave auction" stone at the north end of Front Street. Name changes there as well? BS! Wow. Poor people from the past..only to be forgotten (both sides)...Hey, what about what's really buried at the foot of Beale street landing? Most have NO idea. Furthermore, my family NEVER owned a slave and could CARE LESS about the boo-hoo of ancestors. Check the Native American community if you want to talk about a group of people that got the shaft. Ever look at The Trail of Tears? ooppps! re-name it IMMEDIATELY!! Poor Memphis, WHAT A JOKE!! p.s. I used to live there and play on Beale st. and loved it until I grew sick of continually enduring the "racism from BLACK people." I DON'T miss it one bit. A true armpit of the mid-south. just sayin... ROCK on Chris and Charlie @ String N Things!!
POT: "Hey, Kettle, you're black."
You don't see it, do you? No, I mean you really don't!
Maybe will all though thousands of Klansmen in the same place they can put a domestic drone to good use.
Come, come, they might be a few french fries short of a "HappyMeal" in the common sense department but they are entitled to be that (sic) way.
What about the venerable late Senator Robert Byrd,the former grand kleegal of the KKKK(Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,not KKK).He frequently used the "n" word on national tv and on the senate floor.Openly used that term to refer to Rev King.An open, virulent segregationist.The Dimocraps in the Senate voted him,after his death at the age of 92,the "conscience of the senate".There are more building in West Virginia named after him.Should we tell the citizens of West Virginia to rename all building,freeways,parks,streets,alley and anything else named after the good rascist senator to something else.
How about FDR? He was the biggest rascist president we ever had.He imprisoned an entire race of people ,against their constitutional rights for a number of years.He,too openly used the "n" word.He was a staunch segregationist who nominated and got approval as supreme court justice,Hugo Black.Hugo Black,another staunch segregationist,personally set back integration 35 years.FDR refused to integrated the services during WW2 against the wants of all military leaders including Eisenhauer,later, a president of the USA.I think we should remove all vestiges of FDR on any buildings parks,schools,parks,room,,anything that would remind us of his presidency! How about these apples.Want to start erasing names will eventually lead to absurdities as above.I would gladly remove FDRs' name from anything federal of on a state level.
"Blah blah blah demonrats are the real racists blah blah blah robertbyrd fdr blah blah blah..." Byrd renounced him membership and spent the REST OF HIS LIFE working for better race relations, but you didn't hear that with your Faux Nooz blaring in both ears, did you?...
The KKK was founded as the "political action wing" of the Democratic Party. Nothing has changed much......now, instead of force and intimidation, they just use welfare checks and food stamps to enslave the black population.
The State of Virginia can do whatever it wants with IT'S buildings. Just as the City of Memphis did what it wanted with IT'S parks.
Flat-out lie, HiG. But that's what I expect from you...
@Conjuring....how so???
Whenever I see a Confederate flag, my first thought is that it is the flag of a traitor . . . . someone who took up arms against the United States of America. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to fly the flag of a traitor to this country.
My grandfather fought in the great Civil War for the State of Kentucky not for the Confederacy.The main arguement was for states rights not slavery.Remember,Lincoln only freed the slaves in the South.All other slaves,located in northern state,remained slaves until the war ended.By then,as we know,lincoln was dead.
John from Daytona
That's because your a Yellow Yankee. We wouldn't think you would understand. Are you Gay too?
I don't think it's fair to consider Confederates traitors who took up arms against America. I'm sure, had the Confederates won, many of us would be considering the Unionists traitors who took up arms against America. That wouldn't be fair either
What happened was a difference in ideals about what America should be. Unfortunately, it turned violent and bloody.
So what did they rename the Park? Martin Luther King Park??? Obama Park? But then look at Memphis, its a crime ridden $hithole anyway, just check out the demographics.Yea Google it. A shell of it former days gone by. And why? Because of people that want constant changes to please them. Don't like the names then move somewhere else, I'm sure they can get Section 8 housing,EBT,WIC and Federal Assistance from another state. This is why as time marches on, this country goes further down the crapper.
I wonder, really, if you're capable of understanding, really understanding, the import of what you just said?
You won't read this in your history books. The Civil War wasn't fought over slavery. It was an important issue of the time. The war was fought because the north levied taxes to prevent the southern states from shipping their cotton to England for better prices.
Does this remind anyone of the red state/blue state issues of today?
Absolutely wrong, Doug; the tariff fights and the arguments over nullification were from THE PREVIOUS DECADE. I'd suggest you stop getting your "history" from David Barton...
I beg to differ. I am absolutely correct and I don't share many of the views of David Barton.
Don't forget states' rights.The Articles of Confederation was written to allow states to do as they wish except for the coming together to pay for common unified defense and for the unlimited flow of commerce from one state to another without tariffs.The south wasn't married to slavery! In some states like Mississippi,the number of slaves out numbered the whites.There was fear that if they just gave everyone freedom,the state would eventually be overrun by crime.There was no easy solution to slavery.Tens of thousands of freed slaves died becasue they could not find work,could not feed their familes after the War.
Refusing to reveal their identities? Black people can't hide so why should they be able to? If they're so proud, they'd let us know who they are.
We all look alike anyway.
That war has been over for 148 years
The confederate flag represents a country that never existed.
You must really love the people you say you hate by making it a point to go out of your way to secretly harass them
How can anyone say they have good old American God Grass Roots family values when you burn a cross?
This should have been done long ago!!!
You said that perfectly, Greg!
Thanks, Right?
Don't think for a moment that the views of the KKK exist only in the south. This filth is nation-wide. They just go by other names. I've met some blacks that are just as bad. Hate and ignorance knows no race.
Good, now it's time to move on.
forrest gumps gonna be upset.
Good for Memphis! They are moving forward instead of hanging onto the past and keeping the hatred, racism, and civil war alive.
Sad that there are still people in this country who are crazy enough to be members of a hateful group like the KKK. You know what they say about karma. Their day is coming!
Hopefully Mosquito breeders will hold a rally nearby.
Lived near " MEMFRACA" as it is now known, for over 40 years.
Pre 1975, no blacks, little crime, great schools, churches, 4 malls, heavy industry like harvester, Kimberly Clark, Firestone, Ford, ect.
1980 on, mostly black, high crime, poor, bad schools, no industries, 1 mall, burned out neighborhoods, need I say more!
Now the boy in the Whitehouse is doing it to the country!
What pathetic, racist thoughts you have!
I see that everywhere... color makes no difference. Why not blame the REAL culprit for ruining this country. Unregulated corporate greed, lobbyists controlling congress, the real reason why welfare even HAS to exist. Make THEM pay their fair share of taxes and all will be well.
The park was named for Nathan Bedford Forrest.......slave trader, Confederate Calvary Leader, First Grand Wizard of the KKK, and prominent Democrat politician.
And HiG apparently fell asleep before the Great Party Shift after the 1968 Civil Rights Act was passed. Blah blah blah, bub...
Conjuring Cat.....a bull@!$%# myth. Democrats are still the same racists and bigots they have always been. They just figured out how to use welfare checks and food stamps to keep blacks down instead of intimidation and force.......and now the blacks vote for them!! Perfect plan.....
Dumb ass Hope is Gone
Andrew Jackson WAS ALSO A DEMOCRAT and he provided the foundation for Nate Forrest. Your poor education has failed to tell you that there was a switching of places in this regard. Who is it now?? The GOP. Just like classical "liberalism" switched too.
Only stupid hillbillies don't know
@Rob99- You pathetic libtards try to do anything to hide your evil past. Even JFK's Civil Rights bill (passed under Johnson) got far more Republican support....wait, I thought the parties already shifted??? How could that be??? ...I guess even Sen. Byrd changed parties in this "great shift"?? Oh wait, he didn't...huh??? ....moron!!
Dude, you're stupid. Let's back up. What the democratic party is today is what the Republican party was up until about 1850. What the GOP is today was the democratic party from the founding until about 1865. Hillbilly home schooling sucks. Don't even say the state educated you moron.
@Rob....WTF are you talking about?? 1850? 1865?? Huh??....the Republican Party wasn't even founded until 1854!!...I thought you would at least have enough knowledge in that pebble-sized brain to try to argue the whole Southern Strategy thing under Nixon....but I guess I gave you too much credit. You are a total moron.....sorry. The Democratic Party used to be more conservative than the Republican Party of today. The Democrats of today are just a bit left of the Communist Party of 1950......truth hurts.
Dumb @!$%#
Who was somebody called Thomas Jefferson and what did he find in aabout 1803-4?????????
C'mon you can do it hillbilly!!!!!
@Rob99....Holy @!$%#, you are stupid....blame your public school education....those Union teachers have failed you!! Thomas Jefferson is one of our nations founding fathers. Did you mean to say Jefferson Davis?? ...If so, he was the leader (some say "founder") of the Confederacy.....and sorry, Sprinkles, but he too was a Democrat!!
@Rob99...OK...are you trying to bring up the Democrat-Republicans of long ago?? That party had nothing to do with modern day Republicans....it is kind of like bringing up the Whigs. The only party that Republicans had some roots in would be the Federalists. Did you ever take intro to US History 101???
You're comical. Is this on purpose?? No dumb @!$%#. The democrats were REALLY the federalists.
@Rob99...I think you are confused by the similar names...understandable...it is easy for a lib to get confused. I'll explain it as easy as possible so you can maybe grasp it........The Jefferson Democrat-Republicans were later known as the Jefferson Republicans. However, this party had absolutely nothing to do with the modern day Republican Party, nor with its beliefs.....I think the "Republican" in the name is grossly confusing you. Think of Barack Hussein Obama...now he has nothing to do with Saddam Hussein, even though the names are similar, right???
...The modern day Republican Party, which did indeed have roots with both the Federalists and Whigs, was founded as the anti-slavery party out of opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and came to power with its first elected president, Abraham Lincoln (you know, the guy who "freed the slaves"??) Anyway, this is today's Republican Party and your last free history lesson from me.........get it???
Hillbillyism education 101. LOL
You're very confused. What did I orginally say about Jefferson?? What party is he known to found and what principles did he come to see over such time????
@Rob99...what are you getting at?? Do you really want to bring Thomas Jefferson, an avid slave owner, into this conversation as the founder of the Democratic Party?? ...you must be advertising your hillbilly education on this one, because this New Jerseyan feels like I have lost a few IQ points just by conversing with you......
Dimocrap! Always trying to change something or someone and when those efforts are rebuffed,they try to give away all your money.Oh,did I forget,they love to tax everyone to help everyone out!
Tennessee is Republican
What a silly comment considering the fact that the states who receive more back from the federal govt. then they contribute are the red states. The ones who pay the most in are generally the blue ones.
Which party are the ones looking for the handouts? They suck up to the wealthy Koch brothers and do their bidding in hopes that a crumb will fall out of their mouths and they'll be able to lap it up.
Been watching a lot of Rachelle Madcow & Mr.Ed ? MSNBC is a very balanced network. Kind of a 180 from the KKK. They are as far left as the KKK is to the right.
KKK is still around? I thought we were past that already. No, I agree, rename the park. People like that don't deserve a memory and certainly nothing to be proud of, history or not. Nothing but right wing extremist cowards who hide under sheets. Regressed by generations of brainwash. They deserve no attention. Unworthy.
Right wing? These are trailer park white trash. Most of these living on welfare and food stamps. Sounds more like democrats to me.
Dems... not likely. Not where I am from anyway. Maybe they were back in Forrest's day. Most racist people I know are republican all the way. Regardless of what wing they are, still unworthy.
The south will rise again!
Yea, probably not. Cowards that hide behind hoods and masks. Then again, if one of them says they had a dream, noone would know who it was.
I do have a question, which month is Asian history month? Mexican? Spanish? Italian? German? Oh, yea. Most other nations/races are completely satisfied with just learning about history in general.
Reality People!
Hey KKK: And the rabid opponents.
Here's some history for you.
The CSA's Secretary of War for two years (their most successful) , was Jewish. As well as some of the CSA's top metal winners.
Stonewall Jackson's wife was Native American. As well as a Captain for the CSA (A Native American Chief) .
Only 30% of CSA soldiers owned slaves. The rest fought out of state loyalty .
The Emancipation Proclamation , ONLY freed slaves in confederate controlled areas. It was a military attack on on CSA supplies . Not some , benevolent action .
Both sides: do a little research . Prove me wrong.
"Our constitution is founded on the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man."--Alexander Stephens, first and only Vice President of the Confederate States of America...
Prove me wrong, Scar...
I can't Conjuring Cat. In fact I believe they were counted as only 3/5 ths of a human earlier in history. Glad to see someone else reads history. You checked my post:-) They do not teach the real history of the period, in High School. Lincoln, for example would lose some of his historical luster.
Well, considering that both Gettysburg and Antietam are day trips from where I live, and I've been both places several times...
Here's one , you might not have seen Conjuring Cat:
First Inaugural Address Lincoln :
"I have NO purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists.I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so"
I simply point out, most people, obviously not you. Haven't a clue about the true history of the time.
Especially the KKK.
Indeed. Just finished reading Team of Rivals (Christmas gift from my daughter), an excellent read if you haven't already. Lincoln was a very shrew politician...
The Hillbilly Taliban is what they are
Nothing more
since Memphis is 63% black, why didn't they just name it SlapaHo Park?
Maybe because they don't really want to slap you. ;)
Is that all you've got? Man,,that was WEAK....And don't say " I'm rubber and you're glue" that's weak and childish too.
Probably because they're not governed by racist @!$%#s.
Anymore.