Sen. Akbari: Capitol Should Honor Legislators, Not a ‘Slave Trader’
NASHVILLE — Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) would like the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest on the legislature’s floor of the state Capitol replaced with a lawmaker from Tennessee history.
“The legacy of Nathan Bedford Forrest — as a slave trader, as someone who helped orchestrate the massacre of surrendering black soldiers at Fort Pillow, and as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, a domestic terrorist group — is not a legacy that should be celebrated in the Tennessee State Capitol,” Akbari said. “On the legislative floor, it would be much more appropriate to honor some of the giants who have served in our state legislature.”
According to a poll by Vanderbilt University, an overwhelming majority of both Republicans and Democrats in Tennessee say the bust of the Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader should be removed from the state Capitol. The Tennessean reports:
The university’s poll found that 76% of voters, with majorities from both parties, said the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest should no longer be on display in the Capitol.
Of those who believe Forrest’s bust should be removed, 47% said it belongs in a museum, while 29% feel it should not be on display anywhere.
Akbari favors moving the bust, which was installed in the Capitol in 1978, to a musuem.
“Moving the Forrest bust to the state museum is not an act to erase history, but it is an acknowledgment that this is not a person who should be celebrated in our state legislature,” Akbari said.
