MEMPHIS — Plans to remove the statue and gravesite of Confederate cavalryman Nathan Bedford Forrest from a Memphis park are moving forward.
City Council Chairman Myron Lowery said Wednesday that he has asked city attorney Allan Wade to draft an ordinance to remove the statue and gravesite from Health Sciences Park.
Mayor A C Wharton Jr. said last week that he would like to see the statue removed and the graves of Forrest and his wife relocated to a cemetery. Wharton said his desire to move the statue and gravesite stemmed from the controversy surrounding the fatal shooting of nine people at a black church in South Carolina. The white suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof, posed in photos displaying Confederate flags.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans in Memphis is opposed to the removal.