Gov. Bill Lee calls for Nathan Bedford Forrest bust to be relocated to museum – Tennessean

Gov. Bill Lee calls for Nathan Bedford Forrest bust to be relocated to museum  Tennessean

Gov. Bill Lee says the bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader should be relocated to the state museum, marking the first time Lee has explicitly called for the removal of the monument of Nathan Bedford Forrest inside Tennessee’s Capitol.

Lee made the announcement at his Wednesday briefing, ahead of a Thursday morning meeting of the State Capitol Commission, a 12-member body that has authority, along with the Tennessee Historical Commission, to authorize removal of the bust.

“Forrest represents pain and suffering and brutal crimes committed against African Americans, and that pain is very real for our fellow Tennesseans,” Lee said.

“The Nathan Bedford Forrest bust has spurred a heated debate that began long before all of this national ruckus on monuments that we’re seeing play out today,” he continued, describing the Capitol Commission process as different than “mob rule” playing out elsewhere in the country with the removal of statues by protesters.

While the historical commission already has a meeting set for Friday, the Forrest bust is not on the agenda. A vote on whether to grant approval to relocate it would have to be taken up at another historical commission meeting, likely in October.

“There are reasons this particular bust has for 40 years stood above others as controversial,” Lee said of the calls for removal that began as soon as the Forrest bust was installed in the Capitol in 1978, an effort spearheaded by the late Sen. Doug Henry, a Democrat from Nashville.

“It’s because this particular individual, in a particular season of his life, significantly contributed to one of the most regretful and painful chapters in our nation’s history,” Lee said of Forrest.

In addition to his role as a cavalry commander, Forrest was a slave trader before the Civil War and commanded Confederate soldiers at the Fort Pillow massacre. He was also an early leader in the Ku Klux Klan.

Lee said that since taking office, “literally thousands of Tennesseans” on both sides of the issue have reached out to his office. He was elected to do “the right thing,” he said, and believes this decision is right for the state.

The governor is scheduled to address the Capitol Commission Thursday morning.

Most Republicans in legislature have resisted removal of Forrest bust

Despite a handful of GOP lawmakers expressing a desire to see it relocated, Lee’s current position on the fate of the Forrest bust is not widely shared, at least publicly, by Republicans in the Tennessee legislature.

Black legislators for years have led calls for the Forrest bust’s removal and continued to do so in the final days of the legislative session last month.

Republican lawmakers not only killed multiple legislative efforts to take down the bust, they also approved a bill that would give them more representation on the State Capitol Commission, an action understood to be an attempt to offset Lee’s appointment of new members that would vote in favor of removing the monument.

Lee still hasn’t signed that bill into law, however, so the House and Senate speakers have not yet been authorized to make new appointments to the commission ahead of Thursday’s meeting.

Upon the governor’s announcement last week that he was calling a State Capitol Commission meeting to take up the matter, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally reiterated that he is opposed to the removal of monuments but supported adding context.

“The left-wing activists who are pushing an anti-American, anti-history agenda here in Tennessee and across the nation will not stop with Nathan Bedford Forrest,” McNally, R-Oak Ridge, said regarding efforts around the country to bring down Confederate and other historical statues. “They have made clear Forrest is merely the tip of the iceberg.”

McNally did not speak to how some on the right side of the political aisle, however, are also among those who have called for Confederate statues to be removed from prominent public locations.

But other groups, including faith leaders around the state and the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee this week have urged the commission to vote in favor of removal.

Governor’s stance has shifted from opposing to favoring removal

Lee’s recommendation, which is a nearly 180-degree shift from his stance when he took office, is in line with what most removal advocates have long said: relocate the bust to the Tennessee State Museum, where it can still be preserved and displayed in its proper context.

As recently as a year and a half ago, Lee said he was opposed to the removal of Confederate monuments, including the one to Forrest in the Capitol.

“The Ku Klux Klan is a part of our history that we’re not proud of in Tennessee, and we  need to be reminded of that and make certain that we don’t forget it,” Lee told The Tennessean in December 2018 during his transition to governor. “So I wouldn’t advocate to remove that.”

The governor in early 2019 then announced he would not be opposed to adding additional historical context to the bust.

Lee maintained on Wednesday that he has not reversed course on his previous position against the removal of Confederate monuments, saying that this was merely the best way to present the bust in its proper context.

But his public answers on the controversial bust — and a state day of observation in Forrest’s honor — have continued to evolve.

Last month, while still not explicitly calling for the bust’s removal, Lee delivered what were his strongest remarks up to that point on the bust, insisting that “symbols matter” and that monuments are a “window into what we value.”

In July 2019, despite initially saying he had not considered changing a state law that required him to proclaim an annual Nathan Bedford Forrest Day, Lee days later, after receiving negative national attention, announced he would work to undo the law.

Lee successfully pushed for the legislature to do so before adjourning last month. While the day remains a special observance in the state, the Tennessee governor is no longer required to proclaim it or any other particular holiday.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, on Wednesday praised Lee’s proposal.

“It’s hard to overstate how offensive this bust is, particularly to African Americans,” Cohen said in a statement, noting that Lee had “come around to a better understanding.”

“I commend the Governor for finally taking this stand, and I hope the State Capitol Commission and, ultimately, the State Historical Commission, will rid the state capitol of this shameful symbol of oppression.”

The historical commission must approve the removal with a two-thirds majority.

Just after Lee finished his briefing Wednesday, activists held a news conference outside the Capitol.

The Rev. Judy Cummings, pastor of New Covenant Christian Church in Nashville, talked about the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust on a Wednesday afternoon press conference outside the state Capitol. 

Cummings said she thinks about the enslaved men who built the state Capitol every time she comes to the building.

“Having a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest here is an insult,” Cummings said. “It is an insult to all of our legacies.”

Holly Meyer contributed.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

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Published 1:17 PM EDT Jul 9, 2020