An Afternoon Stroll Through History

After watching Vice's documentary on the The KKK vs. the Crips vs. Memphis City Council, it got me thinking about history and the way things are presented to us. Memphis City Council wants to rename  Nathan Bedford Forrest park and take down his statue that is in the park because he was one of the founding members of the KKK and many people think it isn't right to pay tribute to such an awful man. 


One of the most interesting parts of this documentary I think is the interview with Lee Miller, the Sons of Confederate Veterans Spokesperson. The interview starts around 10:45. Miller says, "It's upsetting that people would attack history and try to erase history like this. It takes education to learn about somebody from 150 years in our past and the more people get educated about our past, the better off they are." He goes on to explain that the KKK was originally a social club with no anti-black intentions. The sympathetic music starts to play as he paints a picture of what the early Klan was like. His idea of the man and "social club" is very different than Myron Lowery, an african-american city council member. 


I personally think that the renaming of the park was necessary, but does Miller have a point? Are we denying people the education of our country's history by doing so? Ignoring history is one thing, but are we acting like it never happened just because we don't want a park to be named after a man like Nathan Bedford Forrest? I think what he is saying should be taken seriously. I think it is important to tell history in a somewhat unbiased way, but I think honoring those who have killed many innocent people is wrong.