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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:
It's shameful history, nothing to celebrate. ERASE IT. Move the dead guy to your own private property & stop living in the past!
While we're at it, maybe we can change some more racist names:
Black History Month
Miss Black America
The Black Music Awards
NAACP
The United Negro College Fund
Black Entertainment Television
Ebony Magazine
The Grio's 100
If you want to know why this country is so messed up...read these posts. Hate only creates more hate.
this part of history is not something that needs to be remembered. it's violent and evil. not something to be proud of.
Let them keep their park names. Who cares. It will serve as a reminder lest we forget that racism still exists. It's history. Don't want to forget and repeat.
This country was started by a bunch of white men with guns. There are no African-American anymore than there are European-Americans. Either you are an American because you were born here and your Mother and Father were born here and your grand parents or you are an immigrant that was born somewhere else and migrated here. The color of your skin does not make you an African anything. The KKK will disappear along with the New Black Panthers when everyone calls themselves an American and drops the other country in front of it. Roosevelt stated.."When anyone puts another country in front of America when describing themselves, then they are not truly American and need to return to the country they named first when describing who they are."
You'all need to lay off the south, at the time they were fighting for what they believed in or defending themselves from the invading northern troops, trying to push thier political views on the south. The Civil War was not only about slavery but everybody posting probably knows that because you'all are historians. I would like to say that slavery is wrong no matter what race is being enslaved, (and yes, white people have been slaves) and from a human standpoint people should stand against it. To me this article is not about slavery or the KKK, it is about changing this country's history. So the KKK is going to show up to protest, are you afraid of them, or are you afraid you are going to accept thier views? As long as they aren't violent, let them do thier thing, after all if it was the black panthers showing up to protest we would have to be tolerant, right? The Civil War happened rather it was right or wrong, not everything in our history or the history of the world is pleasant. What I have to say to the Memphis city council is this. The holocaust really happened, should we forget about that or change the names so we can pretend it didn't happen I think not, we need to be reminded of the evils men do to other men, so quit trying to be PC just to make you feel good about yourself, like you are really contributing to mankind. A small % of plantation owners had slaves, not everyone in the south participated in that practice, but the majority was fighting the war to defend thier way of life from the invading union troops and that my friend, even after 150 years should still be honored. Again this is not about slavery or the KKK, it is about men who gave thier lives to defend what they believed in and to defend thier homes, wouldn't you do the same? So why do you want to erase them from history?
Should the Germans have public parks named in honor of Nazi heroes? Way of life you say? Yet you want to conveniently gloss over the black African slave element like it was the aberration and not the norm. Tell yourself the truth once and awhile.
Don't be so melodramatic if your trying to make a point.....it loses it's value when you compare apples to oranges. The poster was clearly referring to the loss of history, or it's rewrite to cover up what happened as a bad thing- not to lend support one of the most despicable acts we allowed to occur in our nation, but to not hide those things from future generations as a reminder.
The post has merit, and just smearing it with that kind of rhetoric is knee jerk reaction to a valid point.
@Facevalue - Either you have a hard time comprehending what you read, you didn't read thoroughly or you're just a troll. This the OP's quote I was responding to.
"The holocaust really happened, should we forget about that or change the names so we can pretend it didn't happen I think not, we need to be reminded of the evils men do to other men, so quit trying to be PC just to make you feel good about yourself, like you are really contributing to mankind."
No, I can read.....seems you have missed the point of the OP.
From this you jump to
Obviously not.....since Germans have their own history to keep and that would be their cross to carry.
Our civil war was not our proudest moment in history, however changing names of parks could be seen as a convent way to 'gloss over' the entire period of our history.
No, face facts, we did things that were not consistent with our own constitution, and morally were bankrupting our people.
That kind of thing should be remembered to help our future generations avoid the 'because thats how it is' kind of mentality that allowed these things to occur in the first place.
That is, unless you think we should next allow felons to change their names so they are not associated with their previous misdeeds.....sound like a good idea?
Same concept as changing our park names to not face the truth about how all of those terrible things happened....one generation later, and all misdeeds are what, changed?
I would rather learn from my predecessors mistakes, in order to be better, not change things in order to avoid facing them entirely.
Having a public park named after you is an honor reserved for those who deserve the honor. Slavers and confederate secessionists do not meet the standard.
Great......suppose now we can just go back and apply our standards to all our history....what a great idea, we can just 'change' what actually happened and make ourselves appear to be without error.
Good idea.....lets just roll with that.
Since the founding fathers were 'secessionists' from the English Empire, we better start with their troublesome ideas of 'breaking away' from subjugation.
Just out of curiosity, what will we teach our children about how the U.S. came to exist? I like your ideas about just writting out of history any embarrassing facts, but are we gonna just tell them we 'morphed' into existence as a Nation?
How about we stick with the subject of "this" particular story?
Sure......in fact, we are.
Your idea, is that we can just rewrite something to avoid it.
And, if anyone thinks that is a bad idea or that it is avoiding the past, they should just name a park after Nazi heroes. Right?
Oh brother, what do you guys like to call that kind of argument? Strawman? I think so. Plenty of ways to learn from our past without having to honor the bad guys by naming a park after them. You could name a sewage treatment plant after them maybe.
No.....it was a direct correlation with your inference that a differing opinion on how to remember the history of our Nation was in some way to support naming parks after Nazi heroes.
In other words you suggested that those who feel differently about renaming a park are supporters of the Nazi party.
See how you conveniently used a 'straw man' there? Any opposition or a differing opinion is immediately tied to Nazi heros.....cute, but melodramatic and transparent.
We covered this already. I was responding to the original post - which apparently you didn't or still haven't read or you wouldn't be trying to make that specious argument.
And here is how you responded
And you quoted it was in response to this
Yes, we covered it....but your apparently working to distance yourself from it rather quickly.
I stand by what I said. You don't name a "public park" - where people go to have picnics and enjoy mother nature's bounty - after war criminals.
Not what you originally said......but, it is indeed what you should have said to make your point.
I still disagree.
If we start going back in history to change names of parks, do we continue on to the history books themselves? Just a couple of changes never seems to be how things work here in the U.S., we tend to over do things even with the best intentions.
I think it would be better to not walk along that razors edge of good intentions to begin with.
Exactly, it doesn't matter how it is said you are still going to disagree because you have respect for the confederates and it hurts you to see their false memories fading and their misdeeds put into proper perspective. We can and do preserve and report accurate history without honoring those who deserve no honor.
No.....
Your doing it again, the straw man.
I don't believe the way to a better future starts with re-naming things to avoid their having happened. When you start down that road, it does not allow you to learn from previous mistakes. They are just lost in time.
I have respect for historical events and all those who went before me in those times. I would 'listen' to the past to avoid the mistakes of my predecessors.
In the context of this article and in the context of the original post I responded to - your argument is absurd and without merit.
In reading all your comments.....I see that you are truly the voice of reason.
Brilliant comments like this
Suppose I could go on....but really, just between me and you....what would the point be. We can see exactly what your agenda is, just from a few posts.
How dare I think differently than you, I must be "absurd and without merit."
Thinking that I could post something of value or have an opinion with merit like all your above posts, is totally absurd.
Clearly, you have your finger on the pulse of reason and logic here, not me.
If you believe basic human rights are an agenda to be feared - don't know what to tell you.
Sum up your "different" thinking in one cogent sentence.
Basic human rights feared?
Just how do you avoid entirely the substance of your posts with that leap of logic?
Oh, I see....your avoiding your own comments entirely because your transparent.
You want to 're-write' your posts to pretend they never happened too? I bet you would love that..
And
I have done that for you several times. Seems it does not fit your agenda, so you don't respond to them. Just like avoiding your own statements........
Be careful, you wouldn't want avoidance to become a habit that creeps into all aspects of your life, it can happen if you embrace it often enough.
I stand by everyone of my posts. Why should I repeat them - you already did. Thank you. Just exactly what are you trying to convince me or anyone else reading this of? If we change the name of a public park the memory of some war criminal will be forgotten? Good. That's a good thing. We don't have to memorialize our enemies to remember the evil they wrought. The two things are mutually exclusive.
Good.
And that sums up what your about completely and your views. You are absolutely right, no need for you to say them again.
I'm honored you would memorialize my postings. Thanks again.
No problem.....
I do the same thing for my kids when I want to teach them about difficult concepts.....I point out what the issue is, and we go over the informal fallacy of peoples perceptions in a given situation.
Most of the time it really helps to have someone who is oblivious and ignorant to their own sad situation to make my point to them as well.
Racism is a tough one, I should be thanking you for your posts as they sure make things easier. Matter of fact, covering Narcissism is another tough one, thanks very much.
Two birds with one stone.
What's that saying - take the beam out your eye - or something like that?
I bet you ran off a long list of war criminals each night when you put your kids to bed so they would always remember the right people.
No, no....
I truly appreciate what your doing here, providing me with such variety of rich subject matter to work with...
But, you have done quite enough for me today, thanks very much for the sentiment, but others need your help, best not keep them waiting.
And that, well it just makes you look angry. Your not angry, are you?
Oh, you're one of those "last word" types.
What would be even more better - LOL- would be to name all three parks after the Obama's. One could be Barrack and Michelle Obama Park, another Malia Obama Park and another Sasha Obama Park. You would hear heads exploding from 50 miles away.
What are the white going to do when the blacks take over ? The black guys have been making babies for years,so the black race will be larger than the white race ,then they can take over the without any effort . Now we have a black president,and there are more black in comericals,etc. There is no "White Amerian month" to celebrate ? That would be considered raciest by the blacks.
The other 11 months are white America months.
The other 11 months are what?????
How about "Some Sanity Please"........
Start with putting that glass of Kool-Aid down, then take off that tinfoil hat.
Oh yeah, the poor neglected white people. No one gives them any credit. Plans are underway to carve Obama's bust into Mt. Rushmore to be completed in 2016. Will you make a special pilgrimage to see it when it's done?
I'm glad Forest is being removed, a former slave trader and any klans man should never be honored in any way, shape or form. Nothing but losers, haters, and thankfully a dieing bread. Ahhh, poor baby klans man, they gonna go cry on their mommas laps now.
"Father Abraham had many sons.
Many sons had Father Abraham."
Bad enough people hate/kill each other over religion, why is the color of a person skin a reason to hate???
Same question can be asked of the liberals, why hate a person just because they do not agree with you..
Then look at all the hate in the media, like the shows on MSNBC. Just listen to some of those winners, ralph maddow, ed fat-so shultz, chris mattress stain, lawrence O'Stupid. Few of the Kool-Aid leaders..
If your "ideas" include discriminating against people because of who they are then you are deserving of condemnation and derision.
Ever watch those shows??? They all preach hate for any and all republicans.
Next they all hate capitalism, and want to socialize America..
You were socialized decades ago. You don't understand what it is so you can't recognize that you are already living in it. You fancy yourself some rough hewn frontier, pioneer mountain man industrial revolutionary - "God made a farmer" probably made you cry. Right?
"
"In 1875, Forrest demonstrated that his personal sentiments on the issue of race now differed from that of the Klan, when he was invited to give a speech before an organization of black Southerners advocating racial reconciliation, called the Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association. At this, his last public appearance, he made what the New York Times described as a "friendly speech"[10] during which, when offered a bouquet of flowers by a black woman, he accepted them as a token of reconciliation between the races and espoused a radically progressive (for the time) agenda of equality and harmony between black and white Americans."
Bedford wasn't as bad as some make him out to be. But, one thing hasn't changed, just as the plantation owners took care of their slaves (housing, food, clothing, etc.), so we continue to do today. Welfare, section 8 housing, food stamps, free cell phones, etc. Some African-Americans have educated themselves and are an asset to our society. These people have to be applauded for not falling into the thoughts of those that still choose to be taken care of by white people.
If anyone wants to prevent the repeat of an event in the past they must be allowed to gain knowledge of that event. The parks should keep their past names and plaques should be placed explaining what happened at the location. To ignore history is to allow those who follow the folly of repeating something similiar. The extream of such an act would be to rename Hiroshima, The USS Arizona, or concentration camps in Eastern Europe as something less offensive or painful to the memory of humanity! This continued PC is continuing to dumb all of us down to our past.
Why doesn't this igorant man spend his time getting educated rather than spewing his hatred which he more than likely learned at home and not at in an educational environment. Give me a break. People do not tolerate the KKK any longer.
As a white street self-educated guy.. I ranked high in the standardized tests... I fig'd... I'm not a racist skinhead.... my best bros are an African-american, a russian, a korean, a spaniard and an englishman...
all that didnt mean squat... guns were still pulled on me, called a cracker and robbed...
Tommy, racists exist among every group. Still cannot lump them all together. Not every black man nor every white man is a racist, but they do come in all shades. I've had them come at me from all sides. Keep fighting the good fight. Peace.
worksforaliving. Usuallly broad non-thinking generalizations out of you. A good Republican - knows the smart thing to do is vote against your self interst in the hopes that somehow or another you'lll get picked to be in the 1 per cent. Moving on Up!!!!
The KKK is a perfect example that people need to belong to something. Maybe we could have a KKK, Scientology Island Cruise free for all members. One way tickets for all takers. We could call it; "The latest episode of Survivor"
The "Exalted Cyclops" bit is hysterical. Anybody remember the Grand Poobah on the Fintstones?
Not only can the extreme right wing never live down the KKK: Its dumbest, vilest constituents are at pains to keep it alive. Let that be the Tea Party's legacy.
Rumor has it that there is a movement afoot to exume the remains of all Confederate soldiers killed in the Civil War buried in National cemeteries and burn them to symbolically erase the memory of slavery.
Troll starting a rumor.
Trolling,trolling,trolling, cast a line and wait for bites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why doesn't the KKK just prove the The Civil Rights act was a mistake? Then rational discourse could take place. Circulating irrational emotion doesn't accomplish anything ... for either side.
Naming parks, schools, roads, etc. after non-nationally recognized individuals is un-American; the nation has thousands of these requiring attention that doesn't relate to the first civil war (another is brewing).
Why should the secessionist traitors get monuments or parks?
If the KKK feels that strongly about it, they should use their own $ and build their own monuments
Sounds like your from the north east.
RL56
That's you're not your genius
Sounds like you're from Hillbilly country
so much hate and difference in this country, it makes me laugh that one says here, blacks are kept in ghetto's, well look at what whiteman has done to the Native Americans enslaved them from their lands to ghetto's on reservations, where they like the Navajo tribes are starving..no black is starving, they have over run our towns and states, look at our White House, it is surrounded by black ghetto's. The South is over run by them, the crime in our cities and small towns are running rampert, gangs are murdering more people than the civil war. Blacks have more rights in this country than the frist true Americans will ever have. In Florida a road was buil in honor of the fallen troops of the Desert Storm War, it wa named (Freedom Way) one year later due to auprising from the black community it was changed to"Martin Luther King Blvd in honor of a black man, to me that was wrong and to many others in that town. All it takes is for blacks to complain about something and they get there way! Until white man and black man have walked the red road of the Native American, then and only then can they have the right to complain they aren't being treated fairly..this is not about the north and south, or slavery (which dates back to the roman days) started by enslaving white people long before any black was discovered and put into slavery by the French & England. Because a certain type doesn't like the name given to a park or town road, and rise or voted againist it should not give them right to change it that's my opion.
I don't give a damn about the KKK and their beliefs, but I don't think the current political leaders of Memphis should change the names of those parks, and I think the state should pass a law to restore the names.
Amen, I fear we may have lost the country due certain birth rates and illegal immigration.
"We may have lost..." Who is "We"?
Why should the state be involved? They are not state parks; they are city parks.
As a Memphian, I find this article a little misleading. There are many people in Memphis who opposed re-naming the parks who are NOT members of the Klan. There was no reason to mention the Klan at all, except to discredit the opposition. The race problem in Memphis is complicated. For example, when Herenton was mayor of Memphis, he publicly stated that he didn't want to see any more "white faces" working at the public libraries. His critics who called him to accountability were labeled racists. My point is, there are many Memphians who would want good race relations, but with a 63% black population and a predominately black City Council, the racism must be addressed from BOTH sides.
I guess you missed the part about a mass KKK rally and some guy called "The Exalted Cyclops."
Then run for city council.
The racial make up of the city of Memphis is predominantly Black. That means that a predominantly Black city council is representative of those they serve.
Are you saying that a city council should be made up of predominantly white members in a predominantly Black city? Now that would be racism.