Some serious chicanery was going on in order to justify the removal of these statues. It is against Tennessee state law to remove Confederate monuments.
Tennessee lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the Confederate statue removals that took place in Memphis the other day. The city sold two public parks in order to get around a state law that prohibits the removal of Confederate statues.
Republican state lawmakers on Thursday called for an investigation and are considering drafting new legislation after Memphis sold two public parks to circumvent state law in order to remove controversial Confederate statues.
In a statement issued Thursday, House Majority Leader Glen Casada and House Republican caucus chairman Ryan Williams said they will immediately begin working with House Speaker Beth Harwell, Attorney General Herbert Slatery and the state comptroller’s office to investigate the matter and “recommend action to the full body of the legislature.”
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland had no qualms about an investigation.
“We welcome any review, ’cause we are confident this was a legal transaction. And we’ll answer any questions and provide any documents,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Memphis City Council unanimously approved the sale of two public parks, each for $1,000, that had statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
The sale of these parks was obviously a sneaky way to circumvent the law to justify the statue removals. One could also argue that the removal of Nathan Forrest’s statue represented desecration of a grave site. There were probably numerous laws broken here.
Hopefully they arrest this fool Jim Strickland who was at the center of this whole fiasco.
