NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee panel is meeting Thursday to decide whether to recommend that the bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader be removed from the state Capitol.
The state Capitol Commission meeting could include the first of two votes needed to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Capitol. Republican Gov. Bill announced Wednesday he thinks the bust should go in the state museum.
The bust was unveiled in 1978 and has sparked multiple protests demanding its removal over the years. The Capitol Commission in 2017 voted against moving it to the state museum.
Its removal would also need approval from the state's Historical Commission. Some Republican officials have instead suggested adding context to the bust and leaving it where it is.
The national outcry over the death of a Black man, George Floyd, in police custody in Minnesota has sparked a new push to remove Confederate symbols, including the Forrest bust.