As TN Democrats and Republicans quarrel over Charleston, Nathan Bedford Forrest rears head

NASHVILLE - An email from Tennessee Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini that links last week's shooting death of nine people at a historically black Charleston, S.C., church to the 1940 murder of a West Tennessee NAACP activist drew criticism Monday from state Republicans because it includes a link where readers can contribute to the Democratic Party.

State Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes charged in a statement that Democrats "are seeking to raise money off of a tragedy" and demanded an apology.

"They're trying to profit from a horrific situation. That is inappropriate in every sense of the word," Haynes said. "It's disrespectful to a community that is still living this horror. It is highly disrespectful to those who lost their lives last Wednesday night in Charleston."

But Mancini accused the state GOP of "once again manufacturing fake outrage. Our statement addressed the root cause of this tragedy, racism in America. The TNDP will not apologize for acknowledging this fact."

She said "there was no fundraising language in the body of the email." And a red click-on box at the bottom of the email that took viewers to a site where they can contribute to the party "used our standard email template" that goes on communications, Mancini said.

The back-and-forth came as many Republican politicians in South Carolina and the country, including Haynes, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., called on South Carolina lawmakers to take down the Confederate battle flag that flies above their state Capitol.

Two hours after Mancini's email went out, Haynes launched his criticism of Tennessee Democrats.

As "Americans of all colors from all over the nation are outraged by this act of hate and we mourn," Haynes said, state Democrats are "pleading for money with divisions a day after 20,000 individuals joined together in Charleston. The Tennessee Democratic Party has sunk to a new low."

In her email, Mancini wrote of the memorial ceremony she attended over the weekend for Elbert Williams, who was killed 75 years ago in Brownsville, Tenn., as the black NAACP activist sought to register black voters.

"It was impossible not to draw a straight line from the murder of Mr. Williams to the shootings in Charleston," Mancini wrote. "And yet, we refuse to do so. Some are already treating this as an isolated incident, much the same way in which we treat every mass shooting in this country - as an isolated incident. We forget history so quickly."

She also decried repeated mass shootings in the U.S.

The fundraising pitch doesn't mention the Charleston shootings nor the subject of Mancini's email.

Mancini said later in her response to Haynes that "we are committed to calling out and eliminating racism across our state and if the TNGOP finds that divisive, then it raises serious doubts about their commitment to creating a better Tennessee for all Tennesseans."

Meanwhile, the Charleston shootings reawakened a standing Tennessee controversy involving the state's own Capitol in Nashville.

For nearly four decades, state legislators both black and white have passed under the stern visage of Nathan Bedford Forrest - Confederate general, one-time slave trader and founder of the Ku Klux Klan - as they emerge from the elevator to conduct their business on the state Capitol's second floor.

Black Democratic lawmakers in the early 1990s, among them then-Rep. Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga, strongly objected to Forrest's presence.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, were quoted Monday as telling The Tennessee newspaper in Nashville they believe it's time for Forrest to go.

Andy Sher/Times Free Press The Nathan Bedford Forrest bust sits in an alcove at the Tennesse state Capitol building.

"Symbols of hate should not be promoted by government," Cooper said in a statement to the newspaper. "South Carolina should remove the Confederate battle flag from its Capitol, and Tennessee should remove the bust of Forrest inside our Capitol."

Haynes, who recently stepped down as a state House member to become party chairman, questioned why Democrats are concerned now when the statue was installed by them when they were in power back in 1978.

"I think it goes right back to what the TDP did today" with the email, Haynes said in an interview.

"They're trying to exploit a national tragedy for their own benefit. This was not the time for this discussion. The Democrats should ask why they put it up under Gov. Ray Blanton's reign."

Haynes said "if I were a Tennessee legislator, I'd vote to remove it, but ultimately that's for the Tennessee Legislature" to decide.

Fitzhugh said in an interview that his remarks about Forrest were in response to a reporter's questions.

Still, he noted, "I can think of more appropriate figures to be there than that one [Forrest]. That's the same as the battle flag, it's a museum piece to me. It's part of a history, there's no doubt about that."

Fitzhugh called Forrest, whose military strategies and tactics have earned him posthumous admiration, a "tremendous general. But to be in our Capitol there with some of the history is not appropriate in my opinion."

Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, who is black, said she would be fine on seeing the Forrest bust removed.

"I don't look at it," Favors said. "It should never have been put up. I'd certainly be on board to have it removed."

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.