MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Republican candidates for Tennessee governor said Wednesday that Memphis did not do the right thing when it removed statues of Confederate-era leaders from city parks last year.
U.S. Rep. Diane Black, Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd and Williamson County businessman Bill Lee squared off in Memphis during the first televised, Republican-only debate during the campaign to replace Gov. Bill Haslam, who faces term limits.
Memphis used a legal loophole in a state law to remove statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from two parks under the cover of darkness in December. The state House voted Tuesday to withhold $250,000 for the city’s 2019 bicentennial celebration, a move that drew accusations of racism from House members from Memphis.
Black and Lee said they thought Memphis did not do the right thing. Boyd said he agreed with his competitors “that we need to preserve our history.”
However, Black and Boyd said it was not correct to punish the city, which some lawmakers said they intended to do.