At the second park, a statue of the Confederate president Jefferson Davis was taken down. Memphis’s chief legal officer, Bruce McMullen, said Greenspace could legally remove the statues, which the city was unable to do. Protesters have called for the removal of the Forrest statue, saying it represents racism and bigotry. Forrest was a slave trader, Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader who became influential in the city’s growth after the civil war. The Sons of Confederate Veterans in Memphis has said such monuments do not represent white supremacy and it would be a mistake to remove them.

Source: The Guardian December 21, 2017 12:56 UTC