School To Keep Former Klan Leader's Name
Fla. School Board Votes To Retain Name Of Confederate General, KKK Leader
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A bust of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest sits in a quiet park in Selma, Ala. in this Jan. 20, 2001 file photo. (AP Photo/Kevin Glackmeyer)
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After hearing about three hours of public comments, Duval County School Board members voted 5-2 to the retain the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School. The board's two black members cast the only votes to change the name.
"(Forrest) was a terrorist and a racist," argued board member Brenda Priestly Jackson, who is black.
Betty Burney, the board chairman and the board's other black member, also voted against retaining the name.
"It is time to turn the page and get beyond where we are," she said.
Board member Tommy Hazouri voted to keep the name and said it is difficult to know "who the real Forrest is."
The board listened to passionate arguments from those on both sides. More than 140 people crowded into the meeting room, with another 20 watching the meeting on a television in the lobby.
Many urged a name change, saying the Forrest name was an insult.
"Nathan Bedford Forrest was part of the Ku Klux Klan, no matter how you put it. Nathan Bedford Forrest needs to be changed," said Stanley Scott, who is black.
But several spoke favorably of the general, saying the perceptions that Forrest was an evil man who ordered the massacre of Union troops were incorrect.
June Cooper, who graduated from Forrest in 1970, said some people wanted to wipe out Southern history.
He was a good man... He was a military genius.
June Cooper, School alumDespite her opposition, the board's chairwoman noted that the intensely debated issue could distract from students' education and had even prompted one person to receive death threats for wanting the name changed.
"The naming of a school should not take precedence over someone's life," she said.
Some had suggested naming the school after the street it sits on, or honoring a graduate whose plane was shot down in 1991 over Iraq on the first night of Operation Desert Storm.
Forrest High School, which has received two consecutive "F" grades on state assessment tests, opened as an all-white school in the 1950s. Its name was suggested by the Daughters of the Confederacy, who saw it as a protest to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that eventually integrated the nation's public schools.
But now more than half Forrest High's students are black.
The issue has come up several times during the past half-century, but the School Board has never changed the name. Jacksonville has three other schools named after Confederate generals, but it also has schools named after civil rights icons.
Born poor in Chapel Hill, Tenn., in 1821, Forrest amassed a fortune as a plantation owner and slave trader, importing Africans long after the practice had been made illegal. At 40, he enlisted as a private in the Confederate army at the outset of the Civil War, rising to a cavalry general in a year.
Some accounts accused Forrest of ordering black prisoners to be massacred after a victory at Tennessee's Fort Pillow in 1864, though historians question the validity of the claims.
In 1867, the newly formed Klan elected Forrest its honorary Grand Wizard or national leader, but he publicly denied being involved. In 1869, he ordered the Klan to disband because of the members' increasing violence. Two years later, a congressional investigation concluded his involvement had been limited to his attempt to disband it.
After his death in 1877, memorials to him sprung up throughout the South, particularly in Tennessee. A mounted statue of Forrest and the graves of the general and his wife are in a Memphis park bearing his name.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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See all 73 CommentsI understand the pride, but I do not understand the absence of shame.
I would change the name - not so much because of who Nathan Bedford Forrest was, but because of what he has become and has been chosen to represent.
Southerners who chose to use him as a symbol of their racial bigotry have disgraced his name and made it dirty.
We haven''t reached the point where that is not important.
I think they are trying to cause trouble.
Shame on them.
June Cooper, School alum"
Yes, we have similar southern style "genius" running our nation and the economy today"
Posted by imprisonrove at 06:33 AM : Nov 04, 2008
If people would actually learn about the man, this whole thing would be moot. The Klan used his name for a short while to try to up their membership numbers. After the war, Forrest told them to disband. They, of course, didn''t, but them using his name doesn''t mean that he sold his soul to the devils.
I''d say there was a MAJOR difference between George Washington and this slime dog Forrest!
Posted by gramto8 at 07:08 AM : Nov 04, 2008
I don''t know what history book YOU are reading from but FORREST LEAD the Klan for many years and started the raids on blacks killing who knows how many. He is directly associated with and is fully responsible for the Klan. There is NO record anywhere that I can find, and I''ve studied history for a long time, where Forest made ANY PUBLIC Statement that the Klan should be dismantled or that he was just a figure head!
Some accounts accused Forrest of ordering black prisoners to be massacred after a victory at Tennessee''s Fort Pillow in 1864, though historians question the validity of the claims.
In 1867, the newly formed Klan elected Forrest its honorary Grand Wizard or national leader, but he publicly denied being involved. In 1869, he ordered the Klan to disband because of the members'' increasing violence. Two years later, a congressional investigation concluded his involvement had been limited to his attempt to disband it".
If this true, they should leave his name on the building.
As times change, so do the histories of such men of dubious character change likewise.
But like it or not, he is part of our(this nations)history. And to not recognise that, would be to lie to future generations, and hence, to repeat that history.
Just consider for a moment, if you are capable, that when a crime is committed, "whitey" always goes looking for a black "suspect". The "fact" you state (80% of prisoners being black) does NOT mean that black people COMMITTED the crimes; it only means that they are being locked up for those crimes!
Posted by macusweil at 06:20 AM : Nov 04, 2008
Some people need to get an education........
Bush isn''t from the south, h3ll, he ain''t even from Texas.....
...Life is like a box of choclates!
Just consider for a moment, if you are capable, that when a crime is committed, "whitey" always goes looking for a black "suspect". The "fact" you state (80% of prisoners being black) does NOT mean that black people COMMITTED the crimes; it only means that they are being locked up for those crimes!
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Not to mention that your statistic is pure bu!!***. The number of black prisoners in America is about 42%. The number of white prisoners is about 36%. Unfortunately the number of us who are prisoners to this kind of ignorance is the ever increasing statistic.
Posted by macusweil at 06:20 AM : Nov 04, 2008
Some people need to get an education........
Bush isn''''t from the south, h3ll, he ain''''t even from Texas....."
Yes WE know!!.. the man''s a great pretender.. he''s a dern CT Yankee,, comment was meant to be a joke. Thanks for pointing this out though..shows fols are awake early!! lol
Posted by excoachken
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Can we possibly stop putting racism all on the shoulders of the people in the South? I have heard more racists in the North than anywhere. The big difference being that in the North it is a more subtle thing. The racists there don''t proudly proclaim it as the racists here.
I grew up (in FL) with a racist mother (from NJ) who taught me her ways. Thank God I got away when I was 17 and learned better. I am teaching my children that you don''t judge a person by the color of his skin and that goes for EVERYONE! Until ALL races can see past the color, racism will continue.
Posted by macusweil at 08:05 AM : Nov 04, 2008
Sorry, I didn''t get your thinly vailed hatered for all things southern, was sarcasm.
BTW, what''s a fol?
LOL
Posted by Petro49L at 08:06 AM : Nov 04, 2008
I take it you want to go back to segregation?
BTW, what''''s a fol?"
Whoa, ya''ll are way to sensitive.. btw: fol is how you spell "fool" or "folk" depending if you went to "intelgent d-sign skol" or not.
Better yet: Barak Hussein Obama High School for the liberal socialist Marxist'' sake.
THIS IS NEWS? FRONT PAGE NEWS?
Get a life.
My comment WAS a joke. Hence the "LOL" at the end, that you gratuitously left off.
But not as much as your mis-spellings.
Posted by spinproof at 08:28 AM : Nov 04, 2008
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I ask the same question many times a day. Then I look at the evening news(?) and decide the correct answer in NO!
Ad if you want proof, just go to the story on Obama''s g-mother''s death and read what some of the GOPers write there. You will realize just how much hate "uncivilized" people can spew.
How about naming after a real hero Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman?
Posted by tiredofitnow at 08:09 AM : Nov 04, 2008
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I have noticed this also. Back in the early 1970''s when we were forced to integrate our Southern schools the Northerners thought it was a great idea. Later in the 80''s when they were asked to integrate they protested. Seems the Yankees don''t mind telling the Good People of the South how to live as long as they don''t have to live by the same standards. One shoe doesn''t fit all in America.
Posted by itgrammy at 08:28 AM : Nov 04, 2008
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Don''t know about a ''hero'', but remember "Forest Gump"? That is where his name came from.
I think they should keep the school name as a reminder to young students that Adults are not always correct.
If you want to live somewhere where they erase unpleasant history, try Russia, China or Cambodia.
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Posted by rafterman1
Oh What? He died in 1877. The only civil rights act he witnessed was Lincoln signing the emancipation proclamation which he fought against as a confederate General, Sheesh......
This is interesting%u2026
%u2026a Congressional investigation began in 1871 to determine Forrest''s ties with the Klan, if any. The Committee was chaired by William Tecumseh Sherman. "The outcome of the 1871 investigation was twofold. The committee found no evidence that Forrest had participated in the formation of the Klan and that even the use of his name may well have been without his permission. They also found that there was no credible evidence that Forrest had ever participated in or directed any actions of the Klan."
WIKIPEDIA
June Cooper, School alum
A good man who broke the law by illegally importing slaves after it had been outlawed? How does illegally trading in slaves make him a good man?
Posted by macusweil at 08:44 AM : Nov 04, 2008
Sherman was a war criminal, not a hero. Although most peoples'' opinions on this will be dependent on where they''re from.
For god''s sake it was nearly 135 years ago.. LET IT GO!!!
For god''''s sake it was nearly 135 years ago.. LET IT GO!!! "
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The reason that a lot of Blacks haven''t "got over it" or "Let it go" is because whites haven''t got over it or let it go.
Blacks didn''t stop being discriminated against simply because slavery was outlawed. Blacks were still segregated, denied jobs, education, housing, etc.
It wasn''t until the civil rights legislation of the late 60''s that blacks became truely equal under the law. And even after that Blacks have never been treated fairly. Granted a lot of progress has been made.
My point is this, when whites "Get over it" Blacks will do the same.
So wait a minute, shouldnt he be considered a hero to Blacks? He did more to eliminate the KKK than the assinine NAACP or that h o m o Morris Dees?
Notice the school scored 2 consecutive F''s and is made of of 50% African American, the main detractors to its namesake are African American, my guess is they can not read, have no knowledge of history, which is why the school is doing so poorly.
I wonder if some Germans name a school after Hitler after some 135 years, if someone will be telling the Jews, "Get over it"?
Angry black man (who thinks Obama won''t do much)!
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