Tennessee panel passes vote to remove Capitol’s Confederate bust
The bust was unveiled in 1978 and has sparked multiple protests demanding its removal over the years.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee panel passed a vote Thursday to remove the bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader from the state Capitol.
The state Capitol Commission meeting had two votes, one needed to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Capitol and the second deciding if the bust should go in the state museum.
The vote to remove the bust passed with a 9-2 vote.
The bust was unveiled in 1978 and has sparked multiple protests demanding its removal over the years. The Capitol Commission in 2017 voted against moving it to the state museum.
Its removal would also need approval from the state’s Historical Commission. Some Republican officials have instead suggested adding context to the bust and leaving it where it is.
The national outcry over the death of a Black man, George Floyd, in police custody in Minnesota has sparked a new push to remove Confederate symbols, including the Forrest bust.
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