Nashville officials are reportedly pondering whether to relocate a Confederate monument from one section of Centennial Park to another.
This, according to Nashville Public Radio, which said members of the Parks Board will likely discuss the matter Aug. 6.
“An item on the agenda states Metro Parks staff is requesting guidance from the Parks Board about starting the process for removal or relocation of the Confederate Private Monument, which was vandalized last month,” the radio station reported.
Metro Parks spokeswoman Jackie Jones reportedly said Centennial Park is entering Phase 2 of a redesign.
Jones says the discussion was prompted by a pair of factors.
“A 2015 master plan for Centennial Park outlines the idea of relocating a trio of Civil War monuments — including the Confederate private — to a different section of the park. That area, known as Flagpole Hill, is on the outskirts of the park, separate by 31st Avenue North,” Nashville Public Radio reported.
“The hill was a strategic landform during the war. The plan suggests relocating the dog parks that are there now to create a landscaped area that interprets the site’s role in the Civil War.”
The Confederate Private Monument was commissioned in 1902 and dedicated in 1909, the station reported.
Last month, according to Nashville Public Radio, someone painted “They Were Racists” on the statue, with red paint splattered on the side.
“No arrests have been made in similar vandalism cases in recent years. That includes the dousing of pink paint on the prominent statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest along Interstate 65 in late 2017, or the scrawling of profanities on the tomb of President Andrew Jackson a little over a year ago. The Hermitage says that was the first time Jackson’s grave had been vandalized,” the station reported.
“Similarly, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department says it doesn’t know who smeared paint on a monument in the courthouse square in Murfreesboro last March. In that case, police also had surveillance footage. But even after appealing to the public for help, they’ve made no arrests.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Confederate Statue” by Brent Moore. CC BY-NC 2.0.
It’s a part of history that we cannot change. What happened that long ago is called history. Everyone needs to quit living in the past and worry about the problems of today!
How ignorant it is to even discuss this. The statement should be “NO” we are not removing the statue, no discussion needed. What a bunch of stupid.
Nashville missed a grand opportunity to vote against the same tired rich white elite class leftist when they failed to vote fir a conservative black woman Carol Swain for Mayor! Its a shame, but she’s a class act and will stay in the battle!
It seems that people want to keep fighting the Civil War even though we’re at a time in history when there is no one alive who fought in it, black people participate in every aspect of life, and we’ve had a black president and politicians. This is sad to me because people don’t want to move on but only want to fan the flames of animosity and hatred. It is also sad because desecration of public works, buildings and public art is a sign of civilizational decay.