Republican Lawmaker Calls KKK Grand Wizard ‘One Of The South’s First Civil Rights Leaders’
Imagine if a Democrat said this. It would be all over talk radio and cable news. However, it was said by a Republican Tennessee lawmaker. Via FreakOutNation:
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a slave trader in Memphis before the Civil War broke out and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, but Tennessee State Rep. Andy Holt (R) says he was “one of the South’s first civil rights leaders,” in an op-ed.
The Tennessee lawmaker said lawmakers were trying to “stoke the fires of racial tension in America” with claims against Forrest and by moving his remains from a Memphis park to a private cemetery.
“Those that wish to stoke the fires of racial tension in America claim that Gen. Forrest was the founder of the “KKK.” This is not true,” Holt writes. “The Ku Klos of the mid-1860s was founded by Judge Thomas Jones, Frank McCord and several other Confederate veterans. Two years after its founding, Forrest was elected grand wizard of the organization. However, he never dressed in costume.”
Well as long as he never wore a hood, that’s cool, right?…
“Those interested in actually mending racial tension in Tennessee, rather than pandering for quick political points, should be singing the praises of Gen. Forrest. We should be teaching the story of Nathan B. Forrest to every last school child, not digging up his grave in an attempt to rewrite history,” Holt writes.
“This is why we celebrate the life of Nathan B. Forrest. As long as I am in office, because my conscious and faith compel me to fight for unity, I will continue to honor the life of General Forrest”, he concludes.
Copyright 2015 Liberaland
40 responses to Republican Lawmaker Calls KKK Grand Wizard ‘One Of The South’s First Civil Rights Leaders’
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Larry Schmitt July 18th, 2015 at 13:04
How in the hell do you respond to such monumental idiocy? I am truly stumped. His education is seriously lacking. Why didn’t his colleagues shout him off the floor?
jasperjava July 18th, 2015 at 13:29
It was an op-ed, printed for all to.see.
How do you recover from that? Simple: right-wingers are immune to facts. The knuckle-dragging racist Republican base will lap it up, and the intellectually dishonest conservative commenters will shriek that the ultra-conservative Nathan Bedford Forrest was a DEMOCRAT.
Larry Schmitt July 18th, 2015 at 13:37
It is amazing how often people try to claim that the Klan was a Democratic organization, and then one of us has to go through the whole Dixiecrat thing again.
whatthe46 July 18th, 2015 at 14:00
wel, you’ll have to go through it all over agaian with snyder he just went there.
Robert M. Snyder July 18th, 2015 at 14:42
Like most people, my knowledge of history is spotty. And like most people, my job demands limit the amount of time available to research this stuff. I do know that Byrd’s moralizing on the senate floor was pretty hard to listen to, knowing his past associations.
I grew up in PA and have spent almost zero time south of Maryland. I do not see much racism in my community. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but I don’t see it.
So it blew my mind yesterday when I saw a newspaper from 1924 up for auction on eBay in which there were two articles about Klan meetings in my town. One of the articles contained the following passage:
“Hundreds of Klansmen were present, the majority being clad in the white robes of the order and it was surely a beautiful sight when the white-robed figures gathered around the burning cross.”.
This town grew up around the lumber and coal mining industries. It was populated by immigrants from Italy, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, England, France, and Sweden. It shocked me to read about Klan activity because I always thought of the Klan as a creature of confederate states. What were they doing in rural PA, and what motivated so many people to attend their rally?
Again, this was in 1924 – the roaring twenties – after WWI, but before the Depression.
Larry Schmitt July 18th, 2015 at 14:56
I’ve never been in the south either, but you can read, can’t you?
Dwendt44 July 18th, 2015 at 16:28
If you care to read more, you’ll find the Indiana was a hot bed for Klan activities. Only difference is, you HAD to be a member of the Republican Party in order to join.
Robert M. Snyder July 18th, 2015 at 18:35
So both parties have a checkered past.
“When the [Civil Rights] bill came before the full Senate for debate on March 30, 1964, the “Southern Bloc” of 18 southern Democratic Senators and one Republican Senator led by Richard Russell (D-GA) launched a filibuster to prevent its passage. Said Russell: “We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our (Southern) states.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964
How about if we all humbly admit that neither party comes up smelling like roses?
jasperjava July 18th, 2015 at 19:39
The difference is that the Democrats kicked the racists out of their party, and the RepubliKKKans welcomed them.
burqa July 20th, 2015 at 21:07
Yeah, both parties have a checkered past but we have to remember a few more things about the 1964 CRA.
The 1964CRA was not written by Republicans, it was written by librul lawyer Nick Katzenbach and came from a plank in the 1960 Democratic Party platform.
After JFK was killed, LBJ told his cabinet he would take advantage of the shock the country was in and the sympathy for JFK and his policies. LBJ said he would press immediately for passage and appointed V.P. Humphrey to shepherd it through Congress.
It was a law written by liberals, introduced by liberals and pushed through committees by liberals.
Some forget the 1964CRA also gives equality to women. This was a key provision that played a significant role. I happen to have had the honor and pleasure of knowing the lady responsible for this provision.
Her name was Butler-Brayne Thornton Robinson Franklin and she lived at Fall Hill, an 18th century mansion over the falls of the Rappahannock River off Fall Hill Avenue in Fredericksburg, Va. She was also a classic Southern belle.
We met when I was called in to do some carpentry work there and we connected in discussions about genealogy. We were related very distantly through direct ancestors in the Washington family.
One of the major opponents was a Virginia conservative senator. Mrs. Franklin was a close friend of Alice Paul and with passage of the bill being such a near thing, Mrs. Franklin suggested to this senator that if he introduced a ‘poison pill’ in the form of equality for women, he could get a few more votes against it and block passage. As I like to say, she inserted that stiletto between his ribs without him even feeling it, in true Southern belle fashion.
He did it, the bill passed and so we got even more equality than had been initially planned.
I could not categorize Mrs. Franklin’s politics. She was certainly a feminist. Alice Paul became ill and turned to Mrs. Franklin to take her place and introduce the Equal Rights Amendment in Congress. Beyond that, I don’t know. We did not talk politics, we talked history for the most part.
bpollen July 18th, 2015 at 17:56
In the 20’s, Klan membership was at its peak (with most members being Midwesterners.) Up to 4 million members. Out of a population of about 114 million. So, except maybe to you, it’s not at all surprising that there were Klan meetings in your town in the 20’s. My grandfather in Kansas was a member of the Grange, which, in the local branch at least, was like Klan Lite – all the bigotry with half the calories.
burqa July 20th, 2015 at 12:36
Many would be shocked to see such a thing because they have been conned into thinking that dotted lines on a map somehow contain base human characteristics such as a susceptibility to racism.
The Klan was once quite a force in the North, just as opposition to abolition was strong in the North in Lincoln’s time.
I used to post on a board where a guy would post pictures of KKK marches up north where they not only filled the streets but marched carrying scores of flags – Old Glory, no less. Not the Confederate battle flag, but the stars and stripes. Indiana and Illinois were big klan strongholds.
But you see, what is in play here is not opposition to racism as much as bigotry toward Southerners. Racism is just a pretext, and we see this in the lack of attention they pay to the evident racism in the rest of the country.
You had been inculcated in the same stereotype they seek to perpetuate.
The fact is, racism is a problem that infests our entire nation.
Yeah, we got it in the South, but we were also the region that provided the top leaders of the civil rights movement. All the north has to compare to our Martin Luther King is Al Sharpton.
Meanwhile, when it comes to segregation, the North don’t look so hot.
When it comes to segregated housing, only 5 of the 25 most segregated metropoloitan areas in the country are in Dixie. De-troit, Milwaukee and New York lead the way in segregated housing.
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-segregated-cities-in-america-2013-11?op=1
The enlightened progressives of De-troit have managed to keep the blacks out of their neighborhoods to where segregation there is twice as bad as in Charleston, S.C.
http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Data/Report/report2.pdf
Here you can read about the welcome African Americans received in Chicago:
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1032.html
When Little Rock Ark. schools were desegregated, they also had trouble in librul Levittown, Pa.:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-08-21/news/1997233064_1_daisy-myers-levittown-epithets
In terms of percentage of the population, more housing
complaints for things like redlining were filed in the West and Northeast than in the South
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=2012-13annreport.pdf
When it comes to keeping those black children out of their schools, the Northeast leads the way in segregating their schools!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/05/15/the-most-segregated-schools-may-not-be-in-the-states-youd-expect-2/
Don’t look to the South for the parts of the country that lock up more African Americans :
http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/2022
Our enlightened brethren up north also practice the most severe economic segregation:
http://www.citylab.com/housing/2014/03/us-cities-where-poor-are-most-segregated/8655/
For virulent educational segregation, the north leads the
way. Take a bow New York, you’re number one!
http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/brown-at-60-great-progress-a-long-retreat-and-an-uncertain-future/Brown-at-60-051814.pdf
But are these anti-racist crusaders interested in racism found in any part of the country outside Dixie?
Nope, and in this their agenda becomes evident.
Robert M. Snyder July 20th, 2015 at 13:15
I am grateful that you took the time to post such a thoughtful response. I look forward to reading the articles that you have linked. I’m under deadline pressure for the rest of this week, so I probably won’t get to it until next week.
Just a couple of quick comments in response to the text of your post:
1. I am always a little hesitant to look at imbalances and infer malfeasance. During the Baltimore riots I looked up some statistics. I discovered that the median income of Baltimore city residents is identical to the median income in my rural PA community. The cost of living here is much lower, and housing is plentiful. The population density in Baltimore is 100 times higher than it is in my community. You can’t survive here without a car, but there are plenty of people driving junkers. We have nearly as many auto parts stores as restaurants. Our community was built by immigrants from Italy, Slovakia, Poland, Russia, France, England, and Germany, so it is overwhelmingly white. I have gotten pretty well acquainted with a family of Guatemalan immigrants who own and operate a couple of pizza shops. While they do experience occasional harassment, overall they feel welcome in the community, their shops do a good business, and their children are not harassed in school. So I can’t help wondering what is preventing Baltimore residents from moving to a community like mine. They could get more house for the same money while living near beautiful forests with ample opportunities for hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, kayaking, etc. Are the barriers externally imposed, or self-imposed?
2. When comparing the Republican and Democratic parties, it is obvious that racial minorities prefer the Democratic party. But racial minorities also tend to live in urban environments, like Baltimore, and not in rural environments like my community. So it is equally true that the Republican party is the party of rural and suburban folks, while the Democratic party is the party of urban folks. If you started a brand new organization today and called it “The Hiking, Camping, Fishing, Hunting, and Kayaking Club of America”, chances are your membership would be overwhelmingly white, even if your office was headquartered in downtown Baltimore. Who is preventing minorities from hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, or kayaking? Are the barriers externally imposed, or self-imposed?
burqa July 20th, 2015 at 17:52
Thanks for the kind words.
I am reminded of a section in Charlie Wilson’s War by George Crile about a main character named Gust Avrakatos. He was from Alaquippa and his father had a soft drink business and Avrakatos traveled from town to town marketing it. The book describes the many different ethnic groups and in there is a lesson about America and our ethnic composition.
We sort of come together and then expand like a jellyfish when it comes to culture. On one hand we are all Americans and people came here from all over to be Americans, but atr the same time they brought over and preserved many of their customs from the old country. We don’t just melt into the same generic blob, but retain significant differences even as we unite at various times.
Though it could be taken that way, I didn’t intend to attack other regions, but my main point was to punch holes in the stereotype as well as to set up those who pretend to be outraged when it comes to racism, but only when it takes place in one corner of the country. By implication, they seem to approve of it elsewhere. Just like the bigotry I have seen on the Left and the Right, I am not just willing to attack it when I see it on the other side of the aisle, but am willing to do the same when I see it on my side.
I think this is the way the Left and Right need to proceed. I would like to see the Left and Right simultaneously speak out against the bigotry within their own ranks so the bigots are unable to just step across the aisle and find a calm anchorage.
In terms of why people don’t diversify more, some of it is cultural. It’s kind of funny where I live, especially as one gets further into the country. For example, I am working on a house in the country and the next door neighbor is a city slicker who is obsessed with getting every damned tree leaf off her little lawn (she lives in the woods). She spends hours out there day after day with a leaf blower, ruining the serenity in order to nudge one leaf along to the forest edge.
One of the studies I came across, though, said that real estate agents offered clients property in neighborhoods dominated by the same race as the client 87% of the time. Apparently, upnorth this is one of the ways they have kept the segregation going.
Here’s something else to consider: the New Deal was primarily directed at helping not just rural Americans, but rural Americans down south. I grew up with people who went through the Great Depression and it was quite something to see a portrait of a rich New York yankee over the mantle next to a portrait of Robert E. Lee. They said about these big spending, big government programs that were the New Deal, “It saved us.” The levees on the Mighty Mississip saved our delta farmland and made more available to farm. Rural electrification, the TVA, infrastructure and other investment finally lifted us from the lasting effects of the carnage of the War and the looting during and after it when Reconstruction was going on.
Hunting camping and and fishing? I used to do a lot of trout fishing. Any rainbow trout east of the Mississippi caught today is a descendant of fish bred and stocked in streams. The New Deal also set off a boom in the establishment of parks and game preserves people could hunt.
Being a Southerner – a 13th generation purebred Southerner whose direct ancestors have farmed here since 1640 – I am sensitive to rural Americans who are terribly underserved by our government. Far more dollars per capita are spent on urban Americans and Republicans have long tried, with some success, to further reduce the aid they get. If my Democrats would just get it together, they would be able to trounce the GOP in rural America because they have advocated more programs that helped those people.
But instead we have let the GOP drive the agenda, put us on our heels and keep us from informing the voters that we have and will represent their interests better than the GOP.
I think our country would be better off if the Democrats made a greater effort to expand into rural areas and if the GOP were to pursue minority voters, particularly in urban areas. Both parties would benefit from the competition and the people would be better served. Neither party should be able to take significant chunks of the electorate for granted, but both do because both are more interested in maintaining the status quo than with really giving the other side a run for their money in certain demographics.
Robert M. Snyder July 20th, 2015 at 19:19
Just a few maps to lend additional context to our discussion. Notice how much more tightly clustered the first two populations are compared to the third.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/2010_US_Census_Hispanic_Population_by_County.svg/1280px-2010_US_Census_Hispanic_Population_by_County.svg.png
http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/michigan/files/201109/blackpopulation_uscensus.jpg
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/03/irish.jpg
Larry Schmitt July 18th, 2015 at 14:23
How convenient of Snyder to prove what we were talking about.
jasperjava July 18th, 2015 at 13:29
It was an op-ed, printed for all to.see.
How do you recover from that? Simple: right-wingers are immune to facts. The knuckle-dragging racist Republican base will lap it up, and the intellectually dishonest conservative commenters will shriek that the ultra-conservative Nathan Bedford Forrest was a DEMOCRAT.
Robert M. Snyder July 18th, 2015 at 13:52
“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side … Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”
—Robert C. Byrd, in a letter to Sen. Theodore Bilbo (D-MS), 1946
“In the early 1940s, Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to create a new chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Sophia, West Virginia.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd
List of places named after Democratic senator Robert C. Byrd:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_named_after_Robert_Byrd
I sure hope that none of these places flies the Confederate flag, because THAT would tarnish the noble name of Robert C. Byrd.
whatthe46 July 18th, 2015 at 13:59
those aren’t the fuckin’ democrats of today. why continue to be so damn stupid?
Robert M. Snyder July 18th, 2015 at 14:22
Byrd served until 2010, two years after Obama was elected. He’s only been gone for five years.
tracey marie July 18th, 2015 at 14:36
he also felt true remorse for his past…unlike some of the right today.
Dwendt44 July 18th, 2015 at 16:25
And he was respected by many civil rights leaders as well for his efforts on their behalf.
Larry Schmitt July 18th, 2015 at 14:37
In his last autobiography, Byrd explained that he was a KKK member because he “was sorely afflicted with tunnel vision — a jejune and immature outlook — seeing only what I wanted to see because I thought the Klan could provide an outlet for my talents and ambitions.”[ Byrd also said, in 2005, “I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times … and I don’t mind apologizing over and over again. I can’t erase what happened.”
Mike July 18th, 2015 at 16:32
Larry, i’d ask him “..so what…”??? Is that even a defense…???
Because this KKKlown can name a racist POS from one party it exonerates the other…??? Both are P’sOS in my opinion, now what…???
Another fallacious argument ad hominem (one might even say a tu quoque) he merely evades the topic by directing the attack toward someone he “believes” you support. It is not an argument at all, simply a deflection.
He’s a moronic imbecile using 5th grade tactics not worthy of a reply. (that’s why I replied to you.)
Larry Schmitt July 18th, 2015 at 16:53
You may be right, but I still can’t leave a post like that sitting there without a rebuttal. Think of it as a debate. The point isn’t to change your opponent’s opinion, but merely to refute it.
Mike July 18th, 2015 at 17:18
You can’t refute a fallacious argument…you can only be drawn down the rabbit hole of never ending fallacy…that’s what he’s doing, nothing more.
This is his best argument in support of one of his hero’s…a murdering POS with a history of slave trading and treachery against this great nation. All he can do is change the subject and he has you scrambling to somehow justify Byrd’s actions…they can’t be justified, I don’t care how many bridges, roads, schools , or radio telescopes are named after him. Byrd was a racist, self serving POS and nothing will change that no matter how many times he said he was sorry…nothing excuses the actions of the Klan just as nothing excuses the actions of the Nazi’s. JMO (thanks for listening)
jasperjava July 20th, 2015 at 10:02
Byrd was a racist, but he redeemed himself when he endorsed Obama in 2008. It wasn’t a tepid endorsement either: it was full-throated and enthusiastic.
Call me sentimental, but I found it moving to see what was once a rabid racist Dixiecrat make such a statement for a mixed-race Black man. It was a testimony to the great American capacity grow and change.
jasperjava July 18th, 2015 at 19:36
You are a worst racist bigot than Robert Byrd was, so shut your racist piehole.
You support the white supremacist RepubliKKKan party. You’re a shameless racist pot calling the kettle black.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself, but you don’t have the capacity for self-reflection to do so.
Robert M. Snyder July 18th, 2015 at 20:45
Look at what I wrote in the comments above. I calmly posted a few facts about a Democratic senator. And for that, you are calling me a racist bigot? Wow. That’s pathetic.
jasperjava July 18th, 2015 at 22:26
Robert Byrd atoned for his racist past, yet you attack a dead man who can’t defend himself.
You, on the other hand, support a white supremacist organization know as the Republican Party, and shoe no sign of shame, remorse, or embarrassment.
You have no right to cast aspersions on a man who at least had the decency to repent.
Robert M. Snyder July 18th, 2015 at 23:14
“…you attack a dead man who can’t defend himself.”
Okay, so then Reagan’s off limits, right?
“a white supremacist organization know as the Republican Party”
Most of the people I have known who used the N word were working-class, union Democrats. I have gotten into heated arguments with people over their comments about blacks, Hispanics, transsexuals, Jews and Muslims. So spare me the moral indignation.
Look buddy. There are only two viable political parties in this country. I choose Republican because it is a little closer to my personal values. I do not take my marching orders from the Republican Party any more than you take your from the Democratic Party.
It was apparent from your previous post that you harbor hatred toward conservatives/Republicans. You are doing the same thing that you claim to despise in others. You are hating an entire group of people because of the actions of a few prominent individuals. That is called prejudice. I am sure that Islam teaches many things that you personally reject. But you do not hate Muslims as a group. So why do you allow yourself to hate all Republicans? Nobody is forced to be a Muslim. It is a voluntary system of belief, just like conservatism. If it’s not okay to lump all Muslims together and hate the group, then it’s not okay to lump all conservatives or Republicans together and hate the group.
Criticism is fair game. Tell me where I’m wrong. Let’s debate the issues. We can agree to disagree. But don’t imply that all Republicans are white supremacists. That is outright prejudice.
jasperjava July 19th, 2015 at 02:50
I did not say that all Republicans are racist. I said that the organization is racist. Every policy, whether domestic, economic, or foreign affairs, is designed to promote white supremacy. A lot of Republicans are blind to that. It’s all about how to enrich billionaires and multi-millionaires, especially white ones, and make the rest of the world suffer. Women and minorities are not even second-class citizens to them. They are things to be abused, exploited and destroyed.
If that’s what you consider to be “close to your personal values”, then your moral failings are great indeed.
Larry Schmitt July 18th, 2015 at 14:22
This is exactly what Jasper and I said just below (or above). Check this out. http://cjonline.com/blog-post/lucinda/2013-02-05/how-dixiecrats-became-republicans
Dwendt44 July 18th, 2015 at 16:25
If only you read a bit further.
Obewon July 18th, 2015 at 16:35
Today’s GOP enthusiastically cheer front runner racists like birther (R) Trump’16~ and supported Klansman (R) David Duke’12~ in a “White Supremacist Stampede”. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/04/white-supremacists-running-for-political-office-in-2012-in-growing-numbers.html
Supporting POTUS Obama was Sen. Byrd, unlike today’s Republiklans.
Warman1138 July 18th, 2015 at 14:42
Forrest’s solution to the war was ” kill them all ” which he did. African American’s and White prisoners of war were slaughtered under his command. He was also a slave trader before the war. So what kind of disconnect with reality does Andy Holt suffer from?…….or does he share the same hatred the Forrest did? Either way he’s a disingenuous instigator.
Suzanne McFly July 18th, 2015 at 20:13
Its not completely his fault, he was probably home schooled and mommy used school books from Texas.
amersham46 July 18th, 2015 at 21:41
Andy Holt’s grasp of reality is receding as quickly as the Confederate forces at Atlanta
AndInThisCorner July 18th, 2015 at 23:53
What the what!?!
How can you possibly move forward as a nation when this kind of cognitive dissonance is so freely embraced!?!
The Orwellian double speak has got to stop, how can people believe this and not be insane? You are literally saying a racist is a civil rights champion… Just wow…
fahvel July 19th, 2015 at 03:31
you have some very sick people speaking in public folks.