Must See video at story link!! Lot's of chimping and shenanigans!! SELMA, AL (WSFA) - Renewed protests over a controversial monument. And this time, protestors say they're ready to go to jail.
The protestors are opposed to a bust going up in a Selma cemetery.
It's a bust of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who they say was also a violent racist responsible for killing people.
This is the second time supporters have wanted to put up the bust.
The first time, it was stolen.
"I'm ready to march right now. I'm ready to march right now. Ain't nothing wrong with going to jail because we're marching for freedom!" says Charles Steele, Jr. with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
For months now, this statue inside Live Oak cemetery has caused quite the stir among those who support it and those who don't.
"We will complete this monument," says Patricia Godwin, President of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
"The Jews would not tolerate a monument to a Nazi. And neither should we. We're not gonna tolerate it," adds Steele.
Many protesters say General Nathan Bedford Forrest was a domestic terrorist--claiming his Ku Klux Klan involvement makes him responsible for the deaths of many African Americans following the Civil War.
"This individual is the equivalent of Osama Bin Laden," says one protester.
But not everyone agrees the reconstruction of this monument should even be debated.
"It's an enhancement project. And this has been going on since 1868--enhancing Confederate Memorial Circle," adds Godwin.
She says her group--the United Daughters of the Confederacy own the land where the statue stands.
She and fellow members are simply trying to restore the statue after they say someone stole the bust a while ago.
"We had no other recourse but to start plans to secure the replacement bust that we're going to replace the stolen bust with."
"We are going to stop it. We're gonna use every legal means to stop it. We're gonna use direct action," says Tavis Grant, a protester.
Protesters asked the City of Selma to get involved and halt the construction. But because Confederate Circle is privately owned, city officials opted to stay out of the situation.
Poster Comment:
Niggers steal a bust of General Forrest out of a privately-owned cemetary and protest when land-owners want to replace it. Sometimes it's hard to believe that Lincoln fought the Civil War to free the human farm implements ;-)