Spring Break
Unlikely advocate speaks out for Forrest
Wesley Murchison
Issue date: 11/29/06 Section: News
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"We wanted to show that there is more than one side to the picture, more than one voice to be heard in this," said Wayne Wilson, Commander of Camp 33, the Murfreesboro chapter of the SCV.
The invite was in response to a swell of opposition developed against the passage of a Student Government Association resolution to remove the name of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest's name from the campus ROTC Building.
The removal of Forrest's name is a continuation of "Southern cultural genocide" that started after the Civil War, said Edgerton, president of the Southern Heritage 411. The Students Against Forrest Hall have failed to adequately understand Southern history and the role that Nathan Bedford Forrest played in the lives of Southern blacks, he said.
"I was truly amazed at the lack of knowledge that most of the folks have about Nathan Bedford Forrest," Edgerton said. "What they simply do is just holler slavery and say all the black folks in south native America all hate this flag."
Forrest's membership in the Ku Klux Klan and his career in slave trading are two of the main grievances SAFH has cited in their argument to remove his name from the building.
Edgerton, however, said that the earlier incarnation of the KKK played a pivotal role in reestablishing and constructing the South, as well as helping black families.
"If it hadn't been for the Ku Klux Klan a lot of those families wouldn't be here today," he said.
Edgerton listed several names of black soldiers who fought beside Forrest during the Civil War and made counter comparisons of oppression made by the Union in which former slaves where forced to fight at gunpoint.
"This young man who said some of these things about Nathan Bedford Forrest, so very quickly pointed out that General Forrest was into slave trade," Edgerton said. "I want to say this unequivocally, there are a lot of black folks around here in Tennessee whose families would not be alive today if it had not been for general Nathan Bedford Forrest's slave trade."
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 8
Kelly Sanders, LMT
posted 11/29/06 @ 5:36 AM CST
Heck ya'll It's just a building. Granted, I took classes in that building some twenty years ago while seeking a first degree and a comission which I receieved in 1983. (Continued…)
Zack Malpass
posted 11/29/06 @ 6:42 AM CST
Forty-five of Forrest's male slaves rode to war with him on the promise of
freedom for loyal service. They served as cooks, teamsters, foragers, scouts,
and as his personal armed bodyguards. (Continued…)
Zack Malpass
posted 11/29/06 @ 6:48 AM CST
For those who have been led to believe that slavery was strictly a Southern Institution consider this:
Slavery as an institution was never limited to the Southern states. (Continued…)
Anonymous
posted 11/29/06 @ 9:02 AM CST
OH HELLO!! SANITY AT LAST!! Thank you for this informative and surprising article and thanks to all the commentors who have added to the fact-fest. It's nice to see some balance in discussing Civil War issues and the South. (Continued…)
Andrae Crismon
posted 11/29/06 @ 1:21 PM CST
I think the most important thing to remember regarding the dispute over Forrest Hall is that MTSU as an institution is much larger than any protest or dispute over the naming of a building. (Continued…)
Greg Ward
posted 11/30/06 @ 10:03 AM CST
"Ladies and Gentlemen I accept the flowers as a memento of reconciliation between the white and colored races of the southern states. I accept it more particularly as it comes from a colored lady, for if there is any one on God's earth who loves the ladies I believe it is myself. (Continued…)
Bill Steeds
posted 11/30/06 @ 1:20 PM CST
Enough said you black I've been suppressed, everybody is against me, if you are white you are devil and oh by the where's my check Uncle Sam as you owe it to me folks, and you know who I am talking about. (Continued…)
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