Mississippi Debates Honoring Klan Leader On License Plates
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The south fails yet again. You’ve got to be kidding me.
A fight is brewing in Mississippi over a proposal to issue specialty license plates honoring Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to sponsor a series of state-issued license plates to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which it calls the “War Between the States.” The group proposes a different design each year between now and 2015, with Forrest slated for 2014.
“Seriously?” state NAACP president Derrick Johnson said when he was told about the Forrest plate. “Wow.”
Image above from “Mississippians Against The Commemoration Of Grand Wizard Nathan Forrest”
I can’t believe this crap is going on in the 21st century. Even in the south.
34 Responses to “Mississippi Debates Honoring Klan Leader On License Plates”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
To be fair, once you get past Pat Cleburne, it is rather hard to find any confederate generals who weren’t avowed racists.
But but the New York Times loved Mussolini so it’s like the same thing!
First off, as I understand it if a sufficiently large group of people want a non obscene*/non pornographic design can get one, so long as sufficient people agree to purchase said plate.
Second, like Aldo Rains Swastika scars this clearly labels racists for the public.
So I’m at peace with this.
How about starting with these (OK, a couple, maybe not).
Mississippi has produced a number of notable and famous individuals, especially in the realm of music and literature. Among the most notable are:
Actors:Lacey Chabert, Morgan Freeman, Jim Henson, James Earl Jones, Gerald McRaney, Parker Posey, Sela Ward, and Oprah Winfrey
Artists: Walter Inglis Anderson and George E. Ohr
Athletes: Cool Papa Bell, Brett Favre, Al Jefferson, Archie Manning, Deuce McAllister, Steve McNair, Travis Outlaw ,Walter Payton, and Jerry Rice
Authors: William Faulkner, John Grisham, Thomas Harris, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, and Richard Wright
Civil rights leaders: Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, and Anne Moody
Musicians: 3 Doors Down, David Banner, Lance Bass, Brandy, Jimmy Buffett, Bo Diddley, Faith Hill, Howlin’ Wolf, Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Leontyne Price, Charlie Patton, Charlie Pride, LeAnn Rimes, Jimmie Rodgers, Britney Spears, Conway Twitty, Muddy Waters, Hayley Williams, and Tammy Wynette
Look’s like Nathan Bedford’s descendents are using all their shrimp & Apple money to buy the legislature…
This just in from 1869 :
After the Civil War, Forrest lent his name to a group of enforcers of the Democratic Party known as the Ku Klux Klan. Disenchanted with the activities of the group he ordered it to disband in 1869, which did not happen.
Oliver, how is it that your memory for racism extends back to 1869, but your memory for “Big Nanny” government can’t get to 1933?
Look’s like Nathan Bedford’s descendents are using all their shrimp & Apple money to buy the legislature…
Took a second. Good one.
but your memory for “Big Nanny” government can’t get to 1933?
You mean the year the far right Adolph Hitler took over Germany, soon to wipe out those to his left and be opposed by the very liberal US president Roosevelt? That year?
@ Willie:
I’d definitely pay extra for a Cool Papa Bell or Eudora Welty license plate!
Greatest nickname ever.
Are they going to “commemorate” the battle where Forrest took the Colored Troops prisoner & then lynched them?
BTW I’d hate to see the design of the Farve plate. Just too many bad jokes there.
Frank,
It sad to see where the Republicans have gone in the last 150 years. But then again Lincoln was a TRIAL LAWYER and a “big spender” so the Tea Party wouldn’t endorse him today. And I’ll also give you that the first President to invite a “person of color” to dine at the White House was a Republican. But Glenn Beck has written Theodore Roosevelt out of the Republican Party hasn’t he?
your memory for racism extends back to 1869
Don’t be ridiculous, Frank. Special issue license plates weren’t invented in 1869.
The far right Adolph Hitler , eh? I supposed you’ll have him in the Tea Party by November…
Yes, Oliver , the “Big Nanny” (or, as very liberal people like to call it, “very liberal”) state began in 1933, right in the middle of a world wide trend towards corporate fascism. Coincidence?
Pretty hard to get further to the right than the Nazis Frank. Don’t know what fascist Germany has to do with Roosevelt saving us from Communisim though.
Ask Oliver…
Hold it!!! I just missed something: Roosevelt saved us from Communism? How in the h-e-double hockey sticks did he do that?
Forrest should have been executed after the war for his role in the massacre of surrendering troops at Ft. Pillow.
the “Big Nanny” (or, as very liberal people like to call it, “very liberal”) state began in 1933, right in the middle of a world wide trend towards corporate fascism. Coincidence?
Jeez, I hope not. Are you saying corporate fascism would have been preferable to the New Deal?
How in the h-e-double hockey sticks did he do that?
He and the Freemasons had Huey Long assassinated. Didn’t you know?
No, Duros, what I am saying is that increasing government power was a worldwide trend.
Disenchanted with the activities of the group he ordered it to disband in 1869,
If we set aside the founding of the Klan, what did Forrest ever do that was worthy of being remembered and honored?
No, Duros, what I am saying is that increasing government power was a worldwide trend.
Yup! It’s a-okay to celebrate racist traitors because you feel guilty as a direct beneficiary of the corporate fascism of medicaid and social security.
Frank,
The New Deal was the plan used to keep the US from the double disasters of Communism on one hand & Facism on the other. The economy was in a horrible mess as capitalism had crashed & burned. People were looking for a solution to the economic problems. One solution was being tried in the USSR, another in Italy, both solutions had their advocates, both solutions had flaws. The New Deal successfully steered the US between these twin disasters.
“the “Big Nanny” (or, as very liberal people like to call it, “very liberal”) state began in 1933, right in the middle of a world wide trend towards corporate fascism. Coincidence?”
No coincidence- reaction. Though I reserve the right to contest the terms used.
How did you miss it?
To quote from my favorite obscure movie, “It’s time to get your nose out of the Sports Page and onto the Front Page.”
Ol,
“Pretty hard to get further to the right than the Nazis”
While both the Nazis & the Tea Party are in favor of a strong National Defense and a activist foreign policy; the Nazis advocated economic controls to insure domestic prosperity and the “Joy through Strength” program that provided ordinary German workers the ability to engage in foreign travel & vacations. The Nazis cared about the domestic prosperity of the individual & took steps to insure it. I don’t see that the Tea Party has any comparable policy.
There are times when I ask myself if the Tea Party thinks of “Hobbs” only as a stuffed tiger.
Frank, how is it that you can equate the Klan with FDR?
There are times when I ask myself if the Tea Party thinks of “Hobbs” only as a stuffed tiger.
HA! That made coffee come out my nose!
Hold it!!! I just missed something: Roosevelt saved us from Communism? How in the h-e-double hockey sticks did he do that?
You know absolutly nothing about U.S. or world history, do you? I’d explain it to you, but db already did so.
db is starting to slowly learn the futility of casting pearls before swine.
Ol Froth… I know plenty about US History and World history… The question was rhetorical, in that the idea that Roosevelt saved us from communism or fascism is just BS – revisionism at its finest. Roosevelt was an old – time Democratic politician from New York State, where citizens lived and died on the favors of politicians, and the public treasury was treated like a potlatch.
Don’t you guys know the difference between opinion, propaganda, interpretations of history, and fact? (Yes, the question was rhetorical)
You know what’s more annoying than your thinking you know everything? Your believing that people who disagree with you know nothing.
J R , how is that you can , even for a moment, think I equated Roosevelt with the Klan? Are you sure you’re not Zython posting under another name? C’mon, fess up!
The question was rhetorical…
Does Frank actually know what the word rhetorical means?
‘Ol Froth… I know plenty about US History and World history… The question was rhetorical, in that the idea that Roosevelt saved us from communism or fascism is just BS – revisionism at its finest. Roosevelt was an old – time Democratic politician from New York State, where citizens lived and died on the favors of politicians, and the public treasury was treated like a potlatch.’
So, is that opinion, propaganda, interpretaton of history, or fact?
Frank,
Revisionism? Be serious.
Throw out Schlesinger’s books.
Throw out the Busby Berkeley movies.
Throw out the roads paved, the trees planted, the farms electrified, the crops irrigated, the paintings done, the pictures taken, the hope restored.
Okay then what did the New Deal accomplish in “Republi-land”
~ Roosevelt’s First Inaugural address
OMFG Frank, you mean FDR actually asked Americans to work together and sacrifice in order to work through the Depression? He didn’t go for the mantra of “Fuck you, I’ve got mine” as a solution? What a commie!
What Frank refuses to acknowledge is that Communism in 1933 was a real and growing movement in the cities, mostly because there was a perception that democracy and capitalism had failed and led us to the Great Depression. There was also considerable discontent in rural areas, as bankers seized thousands of farms through foreclosure, while millions of gallons of milk were dumped because it wasn’t economically viable to bring it to market.
FDR realized that to get the country back on track and keep political stability in the US, that something had to be done. As we see in Egypt (and earlier Iran), mobs of out of work and desperate people can result in unrest and overthrow of the statist government in place. FDR’s “socialist” reforms can be seen as an early form of “triangulation” preventing a bigger political catastrophe.