Yah, there are quite a few in Memphis who understand and defend Forrest's history, but I'm like many out there who believe that when a large percentage of the population find his likeness offensive, it's worth removing. I don't care if they misunderstand history, there's no real benefit to having these statues of Confederate soldiers in Memphis, yet there are a few negatives.
I truly understand the pragmatic "I do not want to offend my neighbors" idea. An idea that has merit.
My objections to the removal are three:
1. "People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors." Edmund Burke, Reflections on the French Revolution, 1790. Forrest, for all his flaws, was a home town man who rose from private to three-star general during the War, one worth remembering in his adopted home town, despite his flaws.
2. That brings me to the most important
local reason for remembering Forrest: he grew in his ideas on race. Forrest's Memphis speech in 1876* shows clearly that he grew and changed his views over time. Removing his statue removes an opportunity to remember a man who grew from being an antebellum slave trader to a post-war open advocate of political equality, if not integration. Forrest's racial views in 1875 were substantially more progressive than Lincoln's in 1865.
3. The most important reason not to remove Confederate statues is the false premise upon which the removal is based: regardless of why they were erected, some today chose to misinterpret their meaning, be offended by that misinterpretation, and demand everyone accept their misinterpretation and
base public policy upon that misinterpretation. There is no end to the mischief that can result from that premise. Based on that premise, we could take down monuments to World War II veterans because, after all, they defended a society that practiced segregation. Nobody at the dedication of any World War II monument ever said that they were erecting said monument to celebrate the memory of soldiers who fought to protect Jim Crow, but that does not matter; opponents' misinterpretation is all that matters. Name a monument and I can give you a misinterpretation that would support its removal. That would be silly and destructive.
So, while I share the desire not to offend my neighbors, but not at the cost of surrendering our capacity for rational thought.
* Excerpts from Forrest's speech to an African-American fraternal association in Memphis in 1875:
I have an opportunity of saying what I have always felt that I am your friend, for my interests are your interests, and your interests are my interests. We were born on the same soil, breathe the same air, and live in the same land. Why, then, can we not live as brothers? … I came to meet you as friends, and welcome you to the white people. I want you to come nearer to us. When I can serve you I will do so. We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment. … I have been in the heat of battle when colored men, asked me to protect them. I have placed myself between them and the bullets of my men, and told them they should be kept unharmed. Go to work, be industrious, live honestly and act truly, and when you are oppressed I'll come to your relief.
Memphis Daily Appeal, July 6, 1875, p. 1, col. 4.