Neo-Confederates Ask Mississippi to Issue KKK License Plate

Commemorating racist terrorism
US News • Views: 35,945

Since the election of Barack Obama, the neo-Confederate crowd has been more active than ever, pushing hard to promote a revisionist version of US history that sweeps slavery under the rug and lionizes Southern slavemasters. But the latest initiative from these throwbacks is almost unbelievable: the Sons of Confederate Veterans are proposing that Mississippi issue a license plate commemorating General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

Also see
UPDATE at 2/14/11 11:03:15 am

The NAACP is calling on Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to denounce this horrible idea.

(CNN) — The Mississippi NAACP has called on Gov. Haley Barbour to publicly denounce an attempt by a Confederacy group to honor a Ku Klux Klan leader, the organization said Monday. …

Mississippi NAACP leaders feel a state-sanctioned license plate honoring a man with ties to the KKK sends the wrong message to people in the state and across the country.

“Any individual who was a traitor to our country and our constitution should be treated as such,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the state NAACP chapter.

Forrest was a “terrorist” whose acts were “immoral and unconstitutional,” Johnson said. He feels that honoring him or anyone who promoted racial hatred or violence would be offensive.

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47 comments
1 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:38:12am

Kind of like the old SNL commercial about the floor wax/whipped topping.

He's a war hero!

He's a KKK leader!

He's a war hero!

He's a KKK lead...

(Announcer) Wait! He's both!

2 Fozzie Bear  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:39:01am

This is hardly surprising. It's not like the population of Mississippi is somehow magically transformed from what it was 50 years ago. Deeply entrenched bigotry takes longer than that to die out.

3 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:39:27am

re: #1 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

The way that 99% of the populace will see it??

He's a KKK leader.

4 jamesfirecat  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:42:12am

re: #3 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

The way that 99% of the populace will see it??

He's a KKK leader.

I believe 0.5 % of the remaining populace which is more well read in history will see him as a war criminal for what he did to Fort Pillow

5 Decatur Deb  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:43:13am

"A call to the governor's office from CNN on Monday has not been returned."

[Link: www.cnn.com...]

6 SanFranciscoZionist  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:43:51am

re: #1 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Kind of like the old SNL commercial about the floor wax/whipped topping.

He's a war hero!

He's a KKK leader!

He's a war hero!

He's a KKK lead...

(Announcer) Wait! He's both!

How long before someone pops up on this thread to remind us that Byrd was the Grand Kleagle, or whatever it was, and half of West Virginia is named for him?

Countdown begins...NOW.

7 SanFranciscoZionist  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:45:31am

re: #2 Fozzie Bear

This is hardly surprising. It's not like the population of Mississippi is somehow magically transformed from what it was 50 years ago. Deeply entrenched bigotry takes longer than that to die out.

I don't know. Maybe I'm delusional, but I'm wondering how many Mississippians, in full knowledge of who Bedford Forrest was, will actually want the damn license plate.

The SCV have a specific agenda, and they may figure that Mississippi is a place they can get it through, but I'm...hell, I don't know a damn thing about Mississippi. I do like to think that things change, at least a little.

8 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:46:19am

re: #4 jamesfirecat

Yeah... about that....

Even now, not many prison camps are known for their humanity.

Specifically, the Civil war? Both sides treated their prisoners atrociously.

There were war criminals on both sides.

That is not a magical balance fairy argument, either. Just a statement of fact. I'm gonna dislike NBF for his KKK activities. That's enough for me.

9 Vicious Michigan Union Thug  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:49:28am

re: #8 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Yeah... about that...

Even now, not many prison camps are known for their humanity.

Specifically, the Civil war? Both sides treated their prisoners atrociously.

There were war criminals on both sides.

That is not a magical balance fairy argument, either. Just a statement of fact. I'm gonna dislike NBF for his KKK activities. That's enough for me.

The commandant of Andersonville, Henri Wirth, was convicted of war crimes and hanged.

The commandant of Elmira, Seth Eastman, lived a long and successful life and his descendants founded a photography empire.

10 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:49:35am

(channelling Chris Farley)

Remember when that dude signed up to LGF and his nic was Nathan Bedford Forrest and remember he said something and Charles deleted him immediately? You remember that? That was cool.

11 jamesfirecat  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:49:49am

re: #8 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Yeah... about that...

Even now, not many prison camps are known for their humanity.

Specifically, the Civil war? Both sides treated their prisoners atrociously.

There were war criminals on both sides.

That is not a magical balance fairy argument, either. Just a statement of fact. I'm gonna dislike NBF for his KKK activities. That's enough for me.

Um... I know Andersonville and other prisons were not nice places to spend the war, but I'm getting on Forest's case over Fort Pillow because of the possibility that his forces killed many of those who were attempting to surrender at the time....

12 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:50:08am

re: #9 Alouette

Andersonville... shudder.

13 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:51:13am

re: #7 SanFranciscoZionist

At least people will know, automatically who to flip off.

14 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:52:13am

re: #11 jamesfirecat

The history was mixed up in mah braiiin!

15 Decatur Deb  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:52:38am

re: #8 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Yeah... about that...

Even now, not many prison camps are known for their humanity.

Specifically, the Civil war? Both sides treated their prisoners atrociously.

There were war criminals on both sides.

That is not a magical balance fairy argument, either. Just a statement of fact. I'm gonna dislike NBF for his KKK activities. That's enough for me.

Fort Pillow was not a prison camp situation. Forrest's troops refused the surrender of Black soldiers and their White officers. Survivors--58 Blacks (20%), 168 Whites (60%).

16 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:53:53am

re: #15 Decatur Deb

Yeah. I should've check myself before I wrecked myself.

17 Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:53:58am

re: #8 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Yeah... about that...

Even now, not many prison camps are known for their humanity.

Specifically, the Civil war? Both sides treated their prisoners atrociously.

There were war criminals on both sides.

That is not a magical balance fairy argument, either. Just a statement of fact. I'm gonna dislike NBF for his KKK activities. That's enough for me.

Except it wasn't even a matter of prisoners being treated atrociously, they were massacred... Shot and stabbed, (From wikipedia...) a Confederate sergeant, in a letter written home shortly after the battle said that "the poor, deluded negroes would run up to our men, fall upon their knees, and with uplifted hand scream for mercy, but were ordered to their feet and then shot down." I'm more than willing to concede that War is hell and really bad things happen during war, but there's nothing heroic from generals in war.

Forrest was a racist who wanted to ensure that the former slaves knew their real place in life. I know he had a 'come to Jesus moment' late in life, but that doesn't nullify the murders and terror performed by those under his command in war, and more pointedly under the KKK. That stain still haunts us to this day.

18 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:55:36am

Mebbe the Gubner will say, "Have you lost your mind? No!"

19 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:56:25am

re: #10 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

I think I specifically remember Charles' post on the deletion.

"You have got to be kidding me."

20 Mad Prophet Ludwig  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:56:27am

Nathan Bedford Forrest was a monster and the hero of an evil and immoral cause. And yet, the loons who idolize this are growing in number and not diminishing.

"Southern pride," when it comes to such things is no different at all than Germans with a certain pride for the 1930's and 40's. People who like this sort of evil should be ashamed.

But just remember there is no particular problem with racism in the South - no more than any other place....

I am so very tired of being snarked at for pointing out the obvious.

So to all of you defenders of the South, what are YOU doing about this? Where is the great uprising of angry educated Southerners fighting this?

21 Decatur Deb  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:57:26am

The give-away is that Forrest was a Tennessean, with no home-grown link to Mississippi.

22 Sol Berdinowitz  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:57:38am

If private persons want to hang up portraits of Forrest in their homes or places of business/worship, then that is their right. But any government that commenorates this sort of murderer in any form is truly turning into a sick, twisted organization.

23 Vicious Michigan Union Thug  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:59:24am

re: #20 LudwigVanQuixote

Nathan Bedford Forrest was a monster and the hero of an evil and immoral cause. And yet, the loons who idolize this are growing in number and not diminishing.

"Southern pride," when it comes to such things is no different at all than Germans with a certain pride for the 1930's and 40's. People who like this sort of evil should be ashamed.

But just remember there is no particular problem with racism in the South - no more than any other place...

I am so very tired of being snarked at for pointing out the obvious.

So to all of you defenders of the South, what are YOU doing about this? Where is the great uprising of angry educated Southerners fighting this?

Ludwig, have you ever seen my Jews in the Civil War website?

24 Mad Prophet Ludwig  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 10:59:45am

re: #22 ralphieboy

If private persons want to hang up portraits of Forrest in their homes or places of business/worship, then that is their right. But any government that commenorates this sort of murderer in any form is truly turning into a sick, twisted organization.

And who is voting in those people into the government? I am so sick of people refusing to look at hard truths.

There is a reason why the Texas BOE is in Texas or that Rand Paul got elected in Kentucky. That shit doesn't fly in states outside of the bible belt, where enough people get college degrees.

25 Mad Prophet Ludwig  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:00:21am

re: #23 Alouette

Ludwig, have you ever seen my Jews in the Civil War website?

Oh yes and I loved it. This is excellent stuff you put together.

26 Kragar  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:01:18am

Can we get a Memorial Plate with Sherman on it? He did a lot in Missippi as well.

27 Merryweather  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:02:00am

So in addition to being racist scum, the neo-Confederates are terrorist sympathisers. Because that's what Forrest and the KKK were - they killed and assaulted black people to terrorise the rest into staying in what those monsters considered their rightful place.

Oh yeah, I forgot, it's only terrorism when brown people do it.

28 Mad Prophet Ludwig  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:02:35am

re: #27 Merryweather

So in addition to being racist scum, the neo-Confederates are terrorist sympathisers. Because that's what Forrest and the KKK were - they killed and assaulted black people to terrorise the rest into staying in what those monsters considered their rightful place.

Oh yeah, I forgot, it's only terrorism when brown people do it.

There it is in a nutshell.

29 jamesfirecat  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:04:54am

re: #24 LudwigVanQuixote

And who is voting in those people into the government? I am so sick of people refusing to look at hard truths.

There is a reason why the Texas BOE is in Texas or that Rand Paul got elected in Kentucky. That shit doesn't fly in states outside of the bible belt, where enough people get college degrees.

A college degree is no proof of intelligence look at Michelle Bachman and Eric Cantor, both of them went to my parents and brother's allmamater (sp) of William and Mary....

30 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:08:40am

re: #29 jamesfirecat

Before you besmirch my entire state... keep in mind that Jon Stewart is also an Indian.

31 Sol Berdinowitz  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:08:55am

Ludwig,

the point is that if these people want to be undereducated, offensive idiots in private, then that is their God-given right: they must however learn that there are limits on how much of their ignorance they can force on the general public.

...

The catastrophe of the Confederate POW camps like Andersonville were a direct result of Bedford's massacre of black POW's a Fort Pillow: up to that point the North and South regularly exchanged prisoners.

After Fort Pillow, the Union stopped the prisoner exchanges out of protest and the Southern camps grew overcrowded.

32 Kragar  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:10:21am

re: #29 jamesfirecat

Now then, to me university degrees are unearned finds, and they bring the joy that belongs with property acquired in that way; and the money-finds and the degree-finds are just the same in number up to date--three: two from Yale and one from Missouri University. It pleased me beyond measure when Yale made me a Master of Arts, because I didn't know anything about art; I had another convulsion of pleasure when Yale made me a Doctor of Literature, because I was not competent to doctor anybody's literature but my own, and couldn't even keep my own in a healthy condition without my wife's help. I rejoiced again when Missouri University made me a Doctor of Laws, because it was all clear profit, I not knowing anything about laws except how to evade them and not get caught. And now at Oxford I am to be made a Doctor of Letters--all clear profit, because what I don't know about letters would make me a mutli-millionaire if I could turn it into cash.
- Mark Twain's Autobiography

33 Mad Prophet Ludwig  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:11:03am

re: #29 jamesfirecat

A college degree is no proof of intelligence look at Michelle Bachman and Eric Cantor, both of them went to my parents and brother's allmamater (sp) of William and Mary...

Well said. I have to sadly agree. That is also why I added outside of the Bible belt and I always imply real degrees that were earned as opposed to legacies.

After all, W. went to Yale and Harvard too..

For the record, real degrees are not in my mind limited to sciences or mathematics or engineering. Please don't read into that. We all know the difference between someone who got a degree in say history, who reads several languages and knows how to research primary sources and someone who got a C average doing something like journalism (Palin).

We all know the difference between someone who get a real degree in any humanity, and someone like Bachman. We all know the difference between someone who actually knows economics and someone who can't add.

34 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:11:37am

How about a license plate of Forrest Gump?

Except that it would include an image of a box of chocolates, and the state probably already has an obesity problem. (Like most states.)

35 Mad Prophet Ludwig  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:13:22am

re: #31 ralphieboy

Ludwig,

the point is that if these people want to be undereducated, offensive idiots in private, then that is their God-given right: they must however learn that there are limits on how much of their ignorance they can force on the general public.

...

Agreed. That however does not change the tragedy that we have so many like that. That also does not make it right that people are that way. I understand the whole discussion of everyone has a right... however, just because you can do it doesn't mean you should - and believe me, I love the irony of phrasing it exactly that way back at the right wing bigots.

36 Decatur Deb  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:15:30am

re: #34 EmmmieG

How about a license plate of Forrest Gump?

Except that it would include an image of a box of chocolates, and the state probably already has an obesity problem. (Like most states.)

Ahem.

Image: 1_84488aca80b882ca4fb60db374a8a086.jpg

37 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:16:43am

re: #36 Decatur Deb

Ahem.

Image: 1_84488aca80b882ca4fb60db374a8a086.jpg

The image is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get, mostly because it won't load and so I remain in suspense.

38 Decatur Deb  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:18:15am

re: #37 EmmmieG

The image is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get, mostly because it won't load and so I remain in suspense.

Awww. Works here.

Here's another tyr:

Image: 1_84488aca80b882ca4fb60db374a8a086.jpg

39 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:23:36am

Mt. St. Helens just had a 4.0. My sister lives up that way and felt it.

(Down here, nada. Very sad.)

40 Sol Berdinowitz  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:26:06am

re: #39 EmmmieG

The Rhine valley in Germany just had a 4.5 quake today. Must say it is the first one I can recall experiencing, like, ever.

41 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 11:27:25am

re: #40 ralphieboy

The Rhine valley in Germany just had a 4.5 quake today. Must say it is the first one I can recall experiencing, like, ever.

I lived in Los Angeles County for a couple of years. I'm good. No need to go through that again. Nope.

42 moderatelyradicalliberal  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 12:08:09pm

I still say other people in MS should push for license plates that honor Fannie Lou Hamer, Nat Turner and John Brown.

43 SnottyBubbleTush  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 12:30:40pm

re: #29 jamesfirecat

Or, God love her, Sarah Palin.

44 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 12:32:53pm

Well, Senator Byrd was in the Klan... so ... there!

45 dragonfire1981  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 1:30:49pm

I posted this same story on the pages a few days ago. As a resident of MS but a northerner by birth I find people down here interesting. The majority I have come across are gun loving Obama hating, fox news watching Christian types.

There are also a sizable bunch who still seem upset the south lost the civil war which makes me laugh because none of us were even alive then.

46 What, me worry?  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 1:39:44pm

re: #42 moderatelyradicalliberal

I still say other people in MS should push for license plates that honor Fannie Lou Hamer, Nat Turner and John Brown.

That reminds me. Wonder if they picked Black History Month on purpose to make their special license plate request.

47 HappyWarrior  Mon, Feb 14, 2011 1:44:07pm

He was a war criminal. I love that the neo-confederates rag on Sherman but never a mention of Forrest and his actions at Fort Pillow.


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