Dismukes criticized for celebrating Klan leader

I don't know much about Dismukes... I don't really care to waste too much time trying to understand what "celebrating" the life of someone who died over a century ago is all about either; particularly when it was clearly aimed at evoking a response that is less than helpful right now.

However, I would like to point out a historical fact worth noting:

"We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment. Many things have been said about me which are wrong, and which white and black persons here, who stood by me through the war, can contradict. Go to work, be industrious, live honestly and act truly, and when you are oppressed I'll come to your relief. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for this opportunity you have afforded me to be with you, and to assure you that I am with you in heart and in hand." -Nathan B. Forrest

Now, I'm not suggesting Forrest suddenly became a "civil rights activist" (as some Southern apologists have said). Neither am I suggesting that in these carefully selected words, said by a defeated warrior and son of a lost cause before an audience of those once oppressed by the same indicates a concrete change of heart. However, if the man meant any of what he is recorded as saying... we might consider that even those responsible for terrible evils, might repent their ways.

Politically tone-deaf and much more.