The issue of what is to be done with Confederate statues and monuments across the US may be a contentious one – but very few tears have been shed for the recent removal of one “terrifying” statue in Tennessee.
The bug-eyed, screaming fibreglass depiction (pictured) of Confederate general and KKK leader Nathan Bedford Forrest on Interstate 65, just outside of Nashville, has been roundly despised and mocked since it was erected in 1998, with late-night host and comedian Stephen Colbert describing it as a “skirt-wearing Nutcracker riding a wet lizard”.
All “good” things must come to an end, however, and when the owner of the statue and land on which it stood – a local bathtub tycoon – passed away, he left both to the Battle of Nashville Trust.
The Trust then promptly decided to tear the thing down, given that a) it was an eyesore, b) its controversial nature hindered the Trust’s mission, c) its location had little relevance to the Battle of Nashville, and d) Nathan Bedford Forrest was never at the Battle of Nashville anyway.
“Even Forrest would think it is ugly,” the Trust noted in a pointed statement.
In one final indignity, the statue – still splattered with pink paint from its most recent vandalisation – was damaged during the removal; it now sits in storage, future uncertain. We suggest putting it in a lead box and then burying that box under several tonnes of concrete, to make sure it can’t escape.
