“We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth. -- President Obama (Inaugural Speech, 2013)”
—Our President mentioned women’s equality, racial equality, and queer* equality all in one sentence, without caution, with full support, and echoing the need to remember and push forward. Stonewall was mentioned in a presidential speech, an inaugural speech. I am - Wow. Thank you, Mr. President, for remembering so many of us today. — Rebecca, creator of KNOWhomo.tumblr
In Selma, Alabama, a monument to the first leader of the Ku Klux Klan is under construction on public land.
The statue of Confederate General Nathan Forrest — infamous as the first Grand WIzard of the Klan and for massacring black Union soldiers at the Civil War battle of Fort Pillow — even has the blessing of the Selma City Council.
Selma is home to some of the most important events of the Civil Rights Movement — including “Bloody Sunday,” when 600 activists fighting for African-American voting rights were attacked by state and local police.
A group called Friends of Forrest built the original monument, and now the group is planning to lay concrete for a new foundation, add a new bust of the KKK founder, enclose the monument in a wrought iron gate, and add night lighting.
Malika Sanders-Fortier is a community leader in Selma, and when she heard about the plan for the monument she was outraged. Malika is proud of her city’s place in history, and she thinks that monuments celebrating violent racism and intolerance have no place in this country, let alone in a city like Selma, where the families of those attacked by the Klan still live.
And we don’t have a racism problem in this country?
