General N. Bedford Forrest

[Witsec7]

our favorite KKK founder is causing a bit of a stir down 'Bammy way.

SELMA, Alabama -- A group of about 20 protesters have gathered at Live Oak Cemetery today in hopes of preventing repairs to a monument of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from being completed.

Protesters gathered at the site around 9 a.m. and plan to stay until the construction workers leave. Since their arrival, the group has been chanting, singing and praying around the construction zone.

The protest group is led by Malika Sanders-Fortier, a member of the Grassroots Democracy Commission. Protesters say Forrest was the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and they want the monument taken down.

http://blog.al.com/montgomery/2012/08/p ... er_default

Some of the comments on the story will make your heads explode.

[E Street Fan]

The comments were about what I expected, especially this one:

What these protestors ought to know, but probably don't, is that we Southrons are done tolerating their racism and bullying tactics.

We don't care how many signatures they have on a petition circulated world wide, it simply is a non-starter.

If we need to do so, we will meet their threatened violence with sufficient neutralizing actions of our own.

Last, my great grandfather, a veteran of the defense of his country, the Confederate States of America, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in eastern North Carolina. I'm proud of that fact because the Ku Klux Klan saved the south from cultural genocide.

In this case, "cultural genocide" means "didn't get what we wanted."

[Witsec7]

I spend a bit of time writing to the AL.com admins about the amount of racist comments they permit on their forums. Naturally my emails are ignored and the powers that be won't ban or delete some very egregious threatening posts. There used to be a web site devoted to documenting the racist stuff said on their forums.

[emmiedahl]

...It was an 'understandable" thing. Don't want KKK's, dont do the things that cause them.

Yeah, we just have to stop doing crazy things like wanting people to vote and not be slaves. Minorities need to stay in their place and then there will be no need for racist organizations. :roll:

I just don't understand these assholes.

[NurseNell]

20 protestors is hardly very many. If it were 2,000 or more maybe I'd be concerned. But 20, not worth a news story. If the grave needs repairing it should be repaired, I don't care whose grave it is. As a lover of cemeteries I hate seeing crumbling grave stones.

[Gil]

20 protestors is hardly very many. If it were 2,000 or more maybe I'd be concerned. But 20, not worth a news story. If the grave needs repairing it should be repaired, I don't care whose grave it is. As a lover of cemeteries I hate seeing crumbling grave stones.

It's not a grave, it's a monument with a bust, etc.

[NurseNell]

It's not a grave, it's a monument with a bust, etc.

i realized that after I posted when I went to the site to read the article. It's within a cemetery, as are many such monuments. I still don't consider 20 protestors much of a group.

[Witsec7]

It's not a grave, it's a monument with a bust, etc.

Sorry a monument isn't sacred ground. These racists need to get a clue. I truly wish the south would succeed and all the liberals from down there could move to the PNW.

FWIW this is worthy of a news story since NBFs followers clearly have a firm grip on racism. Read the fucking comments.

[NurseNell]

Sorry a monument isn't sacred ground. These racists need to get a clue. I truly wish the south would succeed and all the liberals from down there could move to the PNW.

FWIW this is worthy of a news story since NBFs followers clearly have a firm grip on racism. Read the fucking comments.

Thanks ever so much oh wise one, I read the fucking comments. You want the south to succeed or secede? There are racists in every state in this country, sad to say. The KKK is growing in states like Ohio and CT. My maternal ancestors in CT, who were abolitionists, are no doubt rolling over in their graves.

[emmiedahl]

i realized that after I posted when I went to the site to read the article. It's within a cemetery, as are many such monuments. I still don't consider 20 protestors much of a group.

Twenty is probably the number of racial minorities in town who have not had a cross burnt on their front lawns. Yet.

[Witsec7]

Twenty is probably the number of racial minorities in town who have not had a cross burnt on their front lawns. Yet.

Yea, Selma is tied to some serious history lessons, that many of the locals would like us to forget.

[NurseNell]

Selma was definitely the site of many lessons we should never forget. Catholics were high on the list of having crosses burned on their lawns. I grew up in New York and after a cross was burned on Bishop Sheen's lawn in nearby Rochester I lived in fear of the KKK. I'd hear noises outside and wake up my Dad to tell him they were here. It can only have been much worse for the African Americans living in the deep south.

The KKK and other white supremacist groups are increasing in number and represent a very real threat to this country. And they are NOT confined to the south. Idaho, Montana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, to name a few states, have many such groups.

[Witsec7]

Selma was definitely the site of many lessons we should never forget. Catholics were high on the list of having crosses burned on their lawns. I grew up in New York and after a cross was burned on Bishop Sheen's lawn in nearby Rochester I lived in fear of the KKK. I'd hear noises outside and wake up my Dad to tell him they were here. It can only have been much worse for the African Americans living in the deep south.

The KKK and other white supremacist groups are increasing in number and represent a very real threat to this country. And they are NOT confined to the south. Idaho, Montana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, to name a few states, have many such groups.

Sheen may have come out about racism, but if you were a member of the CPUSA he thought you should be tried for treason. Sheen certainly didn't believe in political freedom. He believed in racial equality. But if you weren't a dem or repug and associated with Harry Hay or Will Geer he felt you could be denied a job and equal rights. Sheen was a hypocritical asshat of the highest order.

ETA : And he certainly didn't believe in woman's equality or our right to make reproductive choices for ourselves. Pulling Sheen into the discussion is merely a strawman.

[NurseNell]

Sheen may have come out about racism, but if you were a member of the CPUSA he thought you should be tried for treason. Sheen certainly didn't believe in political freedom. He believed in racial equality. But if you weren't a dem or repug and associated with Harry Hay or Will Geer he felt you could be denied a job and equal rights. Sheen was a hypocritical asshat of the highest order.

ETA : And he certainly didn't believe in woman's equality or our right to make reproductive choices for ourselves. Pulling Sheen into the discussion is merely a strawman.

I only mentioned him because as a KID less than 10 years old the fact that the KKK would burn a cross on his lawn scared the hell out of me. Not a straw man, just an example from my life. I'm still more scared of domestic terrorism than terrorism from others.

[Witsec7]

I only mentioned him because as a KID less than 10 years old the fact that the KKK would burn a cross on his lawn scared the hell out of me. Not a straw man, just an example from my life. I'm still more scared of domestic terrorism than terrorism from others.

That's why I don't depend on childhood memories for an accurate read when it comes to history. Sheen had clay feet, he only spoke out against racism, and when he did he lost millions of supporters. Today those folks have short memories as they race him forward in the canonization process. He never spoke to civil rights for all Americans.

Like I said Nell, it was a good strawman, and you completely danced away from being an apologist. Having a memorial to NBF in Selma of all cities is egregious at best, but even the deaf can hear the dogs and the screams of the citizens of Selma when they were gassed and beaten.

riffle

ETA: You are cunt pure and simple nell. Don't you ever fuck with me about my eyesight or my ability to see a misspelling. You've lowered yourself to lardlad levels with your comment.

[emmiedahl]

We don't need any damn monuments to racists.

What does this tell children?

[tropaka]

the monument should only remain if there's an addition to whatever text is on it regarding how rejected the KKK and its ideals are in general society today. Make it a reminder of the bad (read "do not repeat")

[NurseNell]

For the first time I've added a name to my foe list. I don't need to read her insults.

[Sprocket]

:shock: da fuq?

[pomology]

We don't need any damn monuments to racists.

What does this tell children?

We certainly don't need monuments for people who perpetrate massacres.

[slickcat79]

My maternal ancestors in CT, who were abolitionists, are no doubt rolling over in their graves.

Catholics were high on the list of having crosses burned on their lawns. I grew up in New York and after a cross was burned on Bishop Sheen's lawn in nearby Rochester I lived in fear of the KKK.

If you really believe that AAs in the south had it worse than you, why do you keep trying to make it about you? Sorry, you're not winning in the victim olympics today. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Bad people who did bad things don't deserve to be honored just because they're dead.

[tropaka]

[code]Bad people who did bad things don't deserve to be honored just because they're dead.

but bad people should have a marker telling how bad they are - hence my earlier comment about adding some text to his "monument"

[acheronbeach]

the monument should only remain if there's an addition to whatever text is on it regarding how rejected the KKK and its ideals are in general society today. Make it a reminder of the bad (read "do not repeat")

x2

Don't let distasteful parts of history collapse into obscurity. Maintaining the original monument has some value beyond just honouring Nathan Bedford Forrest.

[Witsec7]

If you really believe that AAs in the south had it worse than you, why do you keep trying to make it about you? Sorry, you're not winning in the victim olympics today. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Bad people who did bad things don't deserve to be honored just because they're dead.

I think about those twenty people, who decided to speak out against the majority. Those twenty people getting screamed at by their neighbors. Those twenty people had the courage to stand against the majority who hold NBF as a hero of the south.

[marmalade]

One thoughtful poster remarked that Germany doesn't put up statues of Hitler because Germany improved economically in the '30's. Why? Because he marginalized, pillaged and murdered the vulnerable to fatten the coffers.

Forrest did this, just on a smaller scale. Those fuckwit commentators on al.com have no clue because they've never been fucked over the way their hero and his predecessors fucked over generations of African Americans. I posted that they can gloat now, but they'll be judged later as being on the wrong side of history.