Doing the Media's Job

One of the things I've complained about is the local media (print and television) doing a piss-poor job of explaining the history of the Nathan Forrest statue and the naming of the parks that are the center of controversy of late. Leave it to a blogger to do the job: Erasing the Confederacy. Thanks, AlphaPatriot!

We today find it easy to look back and apply our expectations to people who lived in different times and different social attitudes. Humans also have a terrible tendency to reduce complex people to simplistic hero/villain stereotypes. Forrest was without doubt a man of his time. He began with one mindset and changed to embrace another. He was a harsh man shaped by harsh times and a wilderness frontier (which Tennessee was then) life. We can no more judge him by our standards today than we can judge the slaves of his day by the standards of their white masters.

That said, I'm not opposed to renaming or repurposing parks. It depends on why it is being done. In the case of the three Confederate parks, it's political grandstanding by a politician who is facing terms limits. He wants to generate a political image as a crusader and a "fighter for the people" so he can set himself up for his next government job. God forbid he should work honestly for a living.

But I like the idea of Confederate Park becoming Civil War Park, with new monuments to balance the "sides." The cannons should stay, as they emphasise our riverfront history and the importance of the Mississippi. I'm fine with moving Forrest and his wife back to Elmwood Cemetary, where they were originally buried. (Or was it National? I might be mixed up here.) The statue would go with them; a place of honor can be dedicated there. The land that is currently Forrest Park reverts to his descendants. I'm guessing they sell it to UT Memphis, who keep the park space for now. Maybe Memphis finally gets Cancer Survivor Park?

Jefferson Davis Park is a thornier issue. Do we erect an Abraham Lincoln statue facing him and rename it Civil War Presidents Park? I don't think so. Can anyone tell me why we built a park (or renamed an earlier park space) to him? I'm not sure sending the Davis statue to another community and renaming it Ida B. Wells Park is the answer. Not that Wells shouldn't be honored; she should. But how many Memphians even know why she deserves it? Why that space?

Why not a Mark Twain Park? He chronicled America of that time, both the good and the bad. Or Frederick Douglass Park? Does he even have a park in this country dedicated to him? Honoring him would speak to the era and to the side of freedom and abolition of slavery. It would tie in nicely to the Civil Rights Museum. Though, again, I worry how many Memphians even know who he is.

I don't know what to do about Davis Park, really. Any other ideas? Any good defenses of keeping it the same?