Way back in January, before the coronavirus was a global pandemic, before anyone ever heard the name George Floyd, we suggested the state should rethink its list designating days of special observances.
On that list, among others, was a designated day – July 13 – honoring Civil War Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was a Tennessee native, yes, but also a slave trader before the war, the commander who ordered the massacre of black soldiers at Fort Pillow in Henning, Tennessee, during the war, and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan after the war.
When Gov. Bill Lee’s legislative package was announced earlier this year, a bill to remove Forrest’s name from the list was included. But somewhere along the way, and for some reason – haste to end the session because of the COVID-19 pandemic? lack of desire to deal with the controversy? – the bill was amended.
What wound up being voted on by the state Senate Wednesday was a bill that would free the state governor from having to sign proclamations to designate those special days. In other words, any current and future governor won’t have to get their hands dirty by signing a proclamation to honor Forrest or Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general who was not in Tennessee for any of the war’s major battles.
Legislators went out of their way to say their vote was procedural and not any vestige to venerate the glory days of the Old South. And since the House already had passed the bill, it will be sent on to Lee for his expected signature.