Republican lawmakers in the Tennessee House of Representatives decided to show the world just how racist and vindictive they are when they voted on Tuesday to punish the city of Memphis for removing Confederate statues in 2017. And just how exactly is the majority-black city being punished? By taking away money, of course. Specifically, by stripping the city of $250,000 that was supposed to be used in 2019 for a bicentennial celebration.
As the AP reports, this move was rightfully met with contempt from Memphis lawmakers.
The retaliation came in the form of passage of a last-minute amendment attached to the House appropriations bill that triggered heated debate on the House floor and stinging rebukes from lawmakers from Memphis.
Rep. Antonio Parkinson began to call the amendment vile and racist before being cut off by boos from fellow lawmakers.
“You can boo all you want but let’s call it for what it is,” the Memphis representative said.
The city’s lawmakers were able to remove the monuments by selling the city parks in which they were erected to a non-profit organization. It was then the decision of the non-profit that those statues needed to go.
Taken away under cover of darkness were statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was a general in the confederacy, a slave owner and a leader in the Ku Klux Klan. A bust of a Confederate soldier was also removed.
Parkinson, who is African-American, said he was sick of how fellow lawmakers revered Forrest “as if he was God, as if he was an idol.”
Unfazed by (and no doubt gleeful about) how it would appear to punish a majority black city for failing to forever revere slave owners and their supporters, House Republicans chalked their decision to vote for the amendment to protecting the law that protects historical monuments. Their hypocrisy is almost comical—except there is absolutely nothing to laugh about as they threaten to strip millions of dollars away from this struggling city.
“And the law was very clear, and they got smart lawyers to figure out how to wiggle around the law, and I think that’s what the issue is,” said Rep. Gerald McCormick. [...]
Another Republican lawmaker said removing the monuments was erasing history, he said “that’s what ISIS does” and it was a bad action that deserved punishment.
“Today is a demonstration that bad actions have bad consequences, and my only regret about this is it’s not in the tune of millions of dollars,” Rep. Andy Holt, of Dresden, said of the punishment.
It was just earlier this month, on April 4, that the city of Memphis commemorated the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was assassinated in the city 50 years ago. There is no doubt that he would be unsurprised at how these lawmakers have chosen to stand in the way of progress toward racial justice and equality. Sadly, the more things change, the more they stay the same. While the city loses its state funding for celebrating its bicentennial, it can at least celebrate its victory in standing up to hate.