City, Confederate veterans to enter mediation over Tennessee statue

Author: AP
Published:
A statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest sits in a park in Memphis, Tenn., Aug. 18, 2017. (Photo via CBS News/ AP)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) A city attorney says Memphis, Tennessee, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans will enter mediation over the removal of a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest from a public park.

The Commercial Appeal reports that Memphis City Council Attorney Allan Wade announced the mediation Tuesday. Wade also recommended delaying the unveiling of a plan to remove the statue of Forrest, a Confederate general who was a slave trader before the Civil War and an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan after the conflict.

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City leaders have expressed their desire to move the statue from Health Sciences Park. The Sons of Confederate Veterans has fought the city’s efforts.

Lee Millar, a spokesman for the veterans group, said it agreed to mediation but will accept no resolution that moves the statue.

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