Our Civil War parks are valuable
assets to the city and should be enhanced and promoted, not
destroyed. These parks -- Jefferson Davis Park, Confederate
Park and Forrest Park -- are part of the great history of
Memphis, have existed for about 100 years, and are a tribute
to some of Memphis's famous residents. We need to preserve and
protect our history -- everybody's history -- and not try to
cover it up.
There are also economic reasons for bragging about these
parks. The purpose of the Center City Commission is to promote
downtown business growth. So why aren't they promoting Civil
War tourism? In Virginia, Kentucky and even the rest of
Tennessee, historic tourism is a multibillion-dollar industry.
Why is Memphis missing out?
The tourists are there to
cultivate. I've personally conducted Civil War tours in
Memphis to groups visiting from California, New York, Chicago,
England, Germany, France, Australia and points all across the
United States. They come to Memphis to see Forrest Park,
Confederate Park, Jefferson Davis Park and a number of other
Civil War sites here. Shiloh battlefield, just 100 miles east
of us, and Vicksburg battlefield to the south of us, garner
more than 800,000 visitors per year. We should be encouraging
them to stay over in Memphis and tour our Civil War sites,
too.
If the CCC is serious about evaluating our Civil War parks,
then I suggest that they recommend additional educational
signs, encourage a Memphis Civil War "trail," and promote our
Civil War history as a tourism draw. Aside from preserving our
rich heritage, we have much more to gain financially from
education and promotion of these important parks.
Lee Millar
Memphis
Build today, not yesterday
Change the past? If parks are renamed today, how long
before they will be renamed again? Ridiculous. I cannot change
yesterday but, with respect, only try to make today a better
day.
Curtis Parham
Memphis
Don't honor terrorists
It is disturbing to me that so many people in this country
try to cling to a way of life that has been over for decades.
The Confederate parks in Memphis or any other city are
memorials to a group of terrorists who picked up weapons and
attacked the United States of America. The memorials for
Nathan Bedford Forrest are monuments to a man who was an early
leader of one of the most dreaded terrorist organizations this
world has ever known, the Ku Klux Klan.
When terrorists from the Middle East hijack planes and kill
thousands, we unleash the mighty fury of our armed forces upon
them. Terrorists in this country have monuments and parks
built in their honor. I fail to see any distinction between
foreign and domestic terror.
The Civil War was the darkest of times in this country. We
should focus on issues that unite us and not on those that
divide.
Don Horn
Memphis
Offensive names should be changed
I am a native Southerner and most likely a descendant of
some very misguided Confederate veterans. However, I have
enough sense to realize that if the names of these parks are
offensive to enough people, they should be changed.
How some people could say that this could possibly "erase
history" is an absolute mystery to me. It is highly unlikely
that people of some degree of intelligence will forget the
brutal history of these United States. Actually, it speaks
volumes about the progressiveness of Memphis that these names
weren't changed long ago, as they are and always have been
offensive. It is one thing to have pride in one's history and
another altogether to misguidedly cling to offensive
old-school relics and monuments to rebels of a foolish cause.
That only indicates backwardness and ignorance,
characteristics Memphis probably doesn't need to promote.
I've traveled to Germany, but I have never seen Germans
claiming to preserve their heritage with statues of and parks
named for Adolf Hitler and his soldiers. Had there once been
such, they definitely would have been changed by now. Perhaps
it is time for Memphis to enlighten itself in this regard.
David Thomas
Jonesboro, Ark.
History is what makes us
Many men, women and children of the Mid-South, of all
races, fought and died for their beliefs and their families in
what was for all of us the most horrendous war our country has
ever experienced. Our parks and monuments, albeit small in
comparison to their sacrifices, are the only remembrances many
of us have of the past.
In taking them away, we do a disservice to our ancestors
and all who have come after them. For in looking back to the
past, we find out where we are in the present, and, if graced,
where we are going in the future.
I ask Memphis city officials to vote no to the renaming of
our parks and the movement of the monuments of our past. What
will be next, the National Iwo Jima Memorial Monument? There
we fought in what many might now consider a racial war. Good
and bad, our history is what makes us who we are.
Toby Davis
Olive Branch, Miss.
Two very different matters
Nathan Bedford Forrest and Douglas MacArthur were heroic
military figures whose greatness was earned on the
battlefield. Their immense stature erodes when judged in the
light of current politics of people living in the shadow of
their monuments (July 18 article, "MacArthur statue triggers
protests at Incheon").
The imposing statue of General MacArthur at Incheon, South
Korea, distresses many Koreans whose modern thinking embraces
peace and reunification. Removal of MacArthur's statue is
their goal. A temperate voice remarked, "History shouldn't be
vandalized or garnished by ideology." Still, the inevitable
reunification of Korea will likely topple MacArthur at
Incheon.
The monument and grave of General Forrest in Memphis
distress many who embrace the cause of racial equality and
human rights in America. Removal of Forrest's statue is their
goal. Temperate voices call for the protection of history from
political willfulness. Still, Memphis's political will seems
to be to remove General Forrest.
Perhaps the two "sides" in Memphis might listen to the
voice of moderation from Korea. There's something shortsighted
and degrading about vandalizing the history of a great
general, even an American one in Korea. Conversely, those in
political decline who still controlled Memphis in 1964 voted
to "garnish" a patch of Downtown land with the incendiary
title "Confederate Park." The Forrest memorial represents our
history, to be abided for good and bad, while Confederate Park
is an epithet, an affront to our history to be cleansed.
It might honor our past and each other more genuinely to
look at the continued existence of the Forrest memorial and
Confederate Park as very different matters. Those engaged in a
struggle to save both or destroy both as an exercise in
political power choose to honor only themselves.
David Graham
Memphis
Modest proposal for new park names
While no final action has been taken, name changes are
likely given the Memphis City Council's propensity for
frivolity and nonsense. Given concerns about associations with
past history, use should perhaps be made of less painful and
more recent history. To assist, I have come up with a few
recommended park names:
Operation Tennessee Waltz Park
Graft and Corruption Park
King Willie Park
Political Influence Park
What's in It for Me Park
We Have Nothing Better to do Than Rename Parks Park
Incompetence Park
Wasteful Spending Park
Car Allowance Park
Consolidation is the Answer Park
Thom Parzinger
Germantown
Join 'em and fight from within
Maybe black people should join the Republican Party, not
because we like it, but because we hate it. If we are not in
the party in sufficient numbers we cannot bring about change.
And if we are all in the Democratic Party we will continue to
be taken for granted.
The Republican Party and the various groups -- the
Confederate flag-waving, gay-bashing, anti-abortion,
tax-cutting-for-the-rich, pre-emptive-strike, mule
blinders-wearing patriots -- are against practically
everything I am for. But it appears that the Democrats are
also working against our interests. How else do you explain
that in the 2000 election fiasco, not one U.S. senator
officially challenged the vote fraud in Florida?
When the Democrats are in office they are very timid when
acting on our behalf. They appear to be afraid of what others
might think if they pushed an agenda that would help large
numbers of black people.
Blacks are being gerrymandered into political districts by
both parties. Black politicians in the Democratic party want
safe seats, and the Republican Party feels safer with us out
of "their" districts. Again we are being played for chumps.
So, if we are not going to start our own national political
party, then I suggest we hold our noses, join the Republican
Party and fight like hell.
Charles Baker
Memphis
