Local historians – if you failed to attend the first or second Forrest Hall forums, you missed an opportunity to uphold the belief that history isn’t black, history isn’t white – history is read.
Local historian Barbara Marthal telling a new generation of her Confederate ancestry.
Wednesday night’s forum, the second forum of three, was held at Rutherford County’s Lane AgriCenter on John R. Rice Blvd. on Murfreesboro’s west side. The forum was well attended with hardly an empty seat, approximately 150 attendees.
RCHS member Jim Daniel speaking in favor of keeping the name ‘Forrest Hall’.
As was true at the first forum (held on the campus of MTSU) the two sides signed-in so as to speak during the forum. The ‘Keep the Name’ supporters spoke with calmness and dignity as did most of the ‘Change the Name’ supporters. Soon 15 or so of the ‘Change the Name’ supporters decided to use tactics reminiscent of the Brown Shirts in Germany or the Black Shirts in Italy prior to World War II.
The majority of the ‘Change the Name’ supporters were passionate yet friendly and willing to speak peacefully after the forum. Although we disagree, we parted as friends.
These 15 or so ‘Change the Name’ supporters stood shouting down anyone who supported keeping the name, making charges how MTSU is a ’white supremacist campus’ (MTSU has had a black president since 1991) as they wore t-shirts stating ‘I am MTSU True Black’.
Senator Bill Ketron being interviewed by Sam Stockard of the Murfreesboro Post.
Please watch these two short videos and be the judge. Our local history is under assault thus we must be ever vigilant using our tool of information regarding Nathan Bedford Forrest.
