MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The controversy continues for one confederate statue. Facebook video of a man putting a hood on the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest is getting a lot of attention.
It’s angered some, but others are praising the man for his actions, saying it brings out the true colors of what the statue stands for.
Monday night the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest looks like it usually does, but earlier, someone climbed it and placed a hood on its head similar to what you would see members of the KKK wearing.
“I think that was a pretty tasteful way to do things. It’s not violent or overly offensive, and he’s getting his point across without really making anybody mad,” said John McNeil.
We showed McNeil the video, and he says the man is exercising his First Amendment rights.
“He didn’t damage the statue rather than somebody going and dismantling the statue or damage it or have one of these violent protest, so kudos to that guy,” said McNeil.
Ernest Craft who also watched the video, but he disagrees.
“He’s totally wrong, he’s a joke,” said Craft. “He’s disrespecting it.”
After much controversy about taking the statue down for years, Crafts says this just adds fuel to the fire.
“He facing it with a hood and taking away its original intent which was for historical purposes, we’re saying this is one of our leaders in the United States during this time in history, and it’s should be left alone,” said Craft.
“I don’t think he adds fuel to the fire at all, he’s really just drawing attention to something that attention needs to be drawn too,” said McNeil. “I commend the guy.”
McNeil tells me its good to have a healthy debate about removing the statue as long as things don’t get violent.
“You understand both sides of the argument; the statue does have some historic significance, but at the end of the day you can’t ignore the racial undertones,” said McNeil.
