Tennessee governor signs proclamation honoring early KKK leader, sparking backlash

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(CNN) Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a proclamation declaring Saturday "Nathan Bedford Forrest Day," in honor of the Confederate Army general who was a slave trader and an early member of the Ku Klux Klan. ... The proclamation was condemned by Republican and Democratic lawmakers. "This is WRONG," Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted. "Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Confederate general & a delegate to the 1868 Democratic Convention. He was also a slave trader & the 1st Grand Wizard of the KKK." The Texas Republican argued that Tennessee should not have an official day honoring Forrest and called on the state to change the law. Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee echoed Cruz on Twitter. "We should not be honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and the perpetrator of the massacre at Fort Pillow," the Democratic congressman said on Twitter. "Gov. Lee should be bringing #Tennessee into the 21st century not backsliding into the 19th."

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/13/polit...est/index.html

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