MTSU building will remain named after Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest
Middle Tennessee State University President Sidney A. McPhee said Wednesday there will be no appeal of a Tennessee Historical Commission decision rejecting MTSU’s request to change the name of a campus building named for Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, reports the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal.
Report says 110 Confederate memorials removed since 2015 — including eight in TN (where new National Confederate Museum is planned)
The Southern Poverty Law Center has produced a report saying 110 monuments, place names and other memorials or symbols tied to the Confederacy and its leaders have been removed nationwide since 2015, when a shooting at a black church in South Carolina energized a movement against such memorials. The group says it has identified 1,728 that remain.
The Associated Press, in an article on the report, says that the Sons of Confederate Veterans – which, along with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, played a role in erecting many of the memorials – has at the same time been creating some new ones. The organization is also planning a National Confederate Museum to be located at Columbia, Tenn.
Judge rules Memphis maneuver to remove Confederate statues was legal
Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled Wednesday that the City of Memphis had a legal right to sell two city parks to a nonprofit organization that then removed Confederate monuments from the premises, reports the Commercial Appeal.
Haslam leaves open possibility of vetoing bill to protect Confederate monuments
Gov. Bill Haslam is leaving open the possibility of vetoing a bill inspired by City of Memphis’ moves to remove Confederate monuments from local parks and aimed at preventing any such actions in the future, reports the Times Free Press.
Legislators act to deter any future Confederate monument removals
Legislators gave final approval Wednesday to a bill intended to block local governments from future actions like the City of Memphis’ December move to remove Confederate monuments from city parks. The bill prohibits sale or transfer of public property containing a statue without permission of the Tennessee Historical Commission and says local governments violating the new law are barred from receiving state grant funds for five years.
House GOP retaliation for Confederate monument removal: A scripted political show?
Some Republicans familiar with the discussions leading up to Tuesday’s state House vote cut $250,000 in funding for Memphis in retaliation for the city removing Confederate statues say the money was put into the state budget on the front end only so that it could be later taken away as part of an effort send a message to Memphis, reports the Commercial Appeal. Others deny that was the case.
House’s $250K Memphis money cut becomes GOP debate topic, inspires fundraising drive
In a debate Wednesday, three Republican candidates for governor said they disagreed with a House vote to cut $250,000 in funding for Memphis because of the city’s removal of Confederate monuments from former city parks. But Diane Black, Randy Boyd and Bill Lee also said they opposed the city’s action, reports the Memphis Daily News. House Speaker Beth Harwell, who missed the debate while presiding over the House in Nashville, voted for the Memphis funding cut.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has been started on Facebook to raise funds to make up the money lost through the House vote, according to a separate News report. As of Thursday morning, $44,765 had been raised toward the $250,000 goal.
House sub sinks another bill inspired by Confederate monument flap
The House State Government Subcommittee on Wednesday rejected a bill to expand state law dealing with historic monuments, reports The Tennessean. It’s the third bill inspired by the City of Memphis’ maneuvers on Confederate statues to fail so far this session.
In House subs, one bill on Confederate statues moves forward; another sinks
A bill to punish local officials taking actions such as a Memphis City Council decision on Confederate statues was killed by one House subcommittee on Wednesday while another House sub approved a bill intended to block such moves in the future.
House retreats from approval of resolution honoring Confederate statue critic
On the “blink-and-you’ve-missed-it” motion of House Majority Leader Glen Casada, the state House has recalled from the Senate a resolution honoring Tami Sawyer, a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement and in the successful efforts to remove Confederate statues from Memphis city parks, reports Cari Wade Gervin. The initial House passage with a GOP supermajority is characterized as “this year’s installment of “Hey, maybe you should read what you are voting for.”
