Some of my fellow Mississippian want to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with license plates honoring Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Forrest, born into a large, poor family was a self-made man amassing a fortune through cotton planting, land speculation and slave trading. He was one of the very few to enter the Civil War as a private and rise to the rank of General. After the war came to an end he was one of the initial leaders of the Ku Klux Klan.
Forrest's obituary says of his pre-War years, "He was known to his acquaintances as a man of obscure origin and low associations, a shrewd speculator, negro trader, and duelist..."
During the Civil War, General Forrest had many noted moments including the Fort Pillow massacre of black soldiers who had laid down their guns. A letter written to his sister immediately after the massacre by Confederate soldier, Achilles Clark, provided this account:
"The slaughter was awful. Words cannot describe the scene. The poor... negroes would run up to our men, fall upon their knees, and with uplifted hands scream for mercy but they were ordered to their feet and then shot down. I, with several others, tried to stop the butchery, and at one time had partially succeeded, but General Forrest ordered them shot down like dogs and the carnage continued. Finally our men became sick of blood and the firing ceased."
Klan leader Forrest had a few noted moments after the War, too. Author Andrew Ward writes, "In the spring of 1867, Forrest and his dragons launched a campaign of midnight parades; 'ghost' masquerades; and 'whipping' and even 'killing Negro voters... to scare blacks off voting and running for office.'"
This is the person the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans want to honor, remember, memorialize on license plates as part of their commemoration of the War Between the States.
This is the effort, honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest on license plates, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said he wouldn't denounce.
Speaking as a Mississippian to these fellow Mississippians I must say this is an effort I find horrific, absurd and unbecoming of the Mississippi I love.
You belittle all Mississippians by seeking to memorialize our history by elevating images and memories of anyone who articulated and carried out some of our worst moments.
General Forrest belongs in history books and museums where we learn about and from our past, where we ponder those moments we must never repeat. He doesn't belong as a person of honor in the commemoration of our heritage and history.
When debates arise over symbols and heritage and identification I am infuriated when such ideas as this license plate rears their ugly heads. We can't have one state, much less one nation, when we embrace symbols that reflect a tense and asymmetrical heritage.
It's a false heritage we seek to elevate when our symbols divide rather than include. Our energy and spirits are washed down into the gutter when we fight to uphold a heritage that seeks to alienate rather than embrace.
Yes, some of our heritage belongs in museums. We have plenty of nobility and decency to embrace and stand on, stand on together, without the insecurities and ignorance of racism elevated to places of honor.
My credentials as a Mississippian and Southerner are unimpeachable and this license plate idea from the Sons of Confederate Veterans needs to end. Governor Barbour may not be willing to denounce it but I am as are thousands of Mississippians. We all should.
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NBF is their symbol of a "fighter for states rights", or so they would like to claim.
He was just a sadistic bully that was provided the means to enjoy his own hate to the fullest.
He was not a victim and neither were the rest of the "rebels", present and past.
He fought for the continued right to oppress people.
Nothing that should be honored.
Ichthus fish symbol.
Republican bumper sticker.
Sons of Confederate Veterans license plate.
At the time of the War between the States (aka "the war of northern aggression), my whole family were southerners (Virginia), and many of them are still there. I am appalled that anyone would consider honoring someone like Bedford Forrest. He represents the very worst of us. Surely they could find someone more honorable to "honor" in this way.
While I believe in second chances, repentance and forgiveness, however, his legacy ultimately represents the worst in the history of our nation. Any memory of him should be used as a lesson how not to return to the ugliness of our early history, not for any type of veneration. If, indeed, he turned his life around toward the end, then good for him. But it is not to be praised; it is only him finding what should have been there all along.
Maybe now Mississipians will realize that ALL elections are important. Not just Presidential elections.
The license plate is a defiant way of saying, "We were right. We were wronged. You damn yankees and yankee sympathizers can't tell us what to do." It is way of prolonging the civil war conflict. There remains in Mississippi car plates (not state issued plates) depicting Johnny Reb, the stars and bars, and the words, "Hell, no, we ain't fergettin.'"
Somehow, amid all the talk of States' Rights and other such justifications, it remains lost on many people that the longed-for southern way of life was built upon the subjugation of a race of people who were brought to America against their will.
One can argue that the license plate is freedom of speech. One can also argue that burning crosses is freedom of speech as well. The fact is both are means of intimidation. Both are hurtful. Both have no place in our country.
A fair question. Guess it depends on where you come from.
The klan used to burn crosses near my family farm in Mississippi. The cross-burnings and the white robes all signaled to the group, 'This is what I believe. This is what I stand for.' These meetings tended to validate and strengthen the group-think. People I knew then went on to commit horrible violence.
So, yeah, I do think cross-burnings and the proposed license plates are equivalent. I don't buy for a moment the argument that the license plate is about celebrating the military prowess of a Civil War general. I think instead it is about celebrating someone who championed beliefs that subjugated a race of people in our country. Those beliefs, I'm sorry to say, still exist.
Thanks for responding.
Do us all a favor and publish a list of those "fellow Mississippian's"
so that we may enlist them in a reeducation program. It's time that
people of this ilk are shown the error of their ways and the barbarism in
their beliefs.
The neo-Confederates need to move on. One whole side of the Confederate monument in Tupelo is made up of my family. I'm certainly not ashamed of them but I don't fly the Stars and Bars over my house. We lost that war and as a proud American I'm glad we did.