While attending the peaceful protest to remove the "Guardian of Peace" statue, a.k.a., "Johnny Reb" and the Nathan Bedford Forrest marker from the Murfreesboro square, I witnessed several dozen counter protestors shouting "heritage" rhetoric.
Do Murfreesboro citizens really believe these icons are necessary to remember the hate-filled heritage of the Confederacy? I am astonished by those who continue to buy in to the Lost Cause ideology - that the South was somehow valiantly fighting for a just cause. This is an absolute myth - meaning not real.
The Confederacy was an unrecognized, illegal republic founded on what Alexander Stephens identified as "the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man;" that slavery is the natural and normal condition of the black inferior race. The Civil War started because the South feared Abraham Lincoln's election. (Lincoln's name was not even on the Southern ballot).
The only just cause in the Civil War was the abolishment of slavery.
Between 600,000 and 1 million soldiers were killed because the South believed it had the right to OWN humans. There is nothing gentile or noble about this. It is amoral. It is the deadliest of all sins - Pride.
The "Guardian of Peace" says it is there to remind people of the lives the Confederacy lost. What it doesn't say is - The Confederacy started the Civil War. The Confederacy's belief in slavery was absolutely wrong. The Confederacy lost. These statues were erected decades after Appomattox 100 percent to prolong this lost cause myth and intimidate black citizens.
This "heritage" is one of hate and nothing else. Remove NBF and Move the "Guardian" to Stones River Battlefield where it can be seen by those who perpetuate the Lost Cause. I don't need any reminders of this barbarous past. I see it every day.
The Rutherford County Courthouse is currently under renovations to become some sort of historical museum, so construction activities are taken place now.
If you think these activities should include removing relics that honor racism, please contact county trustee Ted Batey, tebbatey@rutherfordcountytn.gov or Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron, countymayor@rutherfordcountytn.gov to advance the removal process.
Stop Honoring Racism,
Lee Anne Carmack