https://youtu.be/8CSRIpvj3oc

A bust honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest, a barbarous Confederate general who became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, was removed from the Tennessee capitol building early Friday morning, the Associated Press reports.

During the Civil War, Forrest became infamous for slaughtering Union soldiers who were trying to surrender.  He ordered his troops to execute any Black person wearing a Union uniform.  At the massacre of Fort Pillow, Forrest ordered his troops to murder hundreds of Union troops–both white and Black–with some being clubbed to death with the butts of weapons.  Many of the whites were fellow Tennesseans fighting for the Union.

Forrest made a fortune selling slaves before and during the war, as well as running cotton plantations.  He would frequently capture runaway slaves from other owners and send them to work at his own properties.

After the war, Forrest was named the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, creating the title from his military nickname, “Wizard in the Saddle.”

Conservatives protested and fought removing Forrest’s statue from a hallway in the capitol that all state senators must use to go to the senate floor.  The bust will be moved to the state museum down the street.

“Removing the likeness of Nathan Bedford Forrest from a place of honor in Tennessee’s Capitol is a symbol for much needed reconciliation. No doubt we have work to do to achieve equality and justice for all people, but today’s vote shows that progress is possible,” said Democratic state senator Raumesh Akbari, who heads the Democratic caucus.