The city of Memphis had to do and end run around the Tennessee legislature, but end run they did, taking down statues of Confederate Coup Leader Jefferson Davis and KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest in two city parks in time for the 50th anniversary commemoration of the death of Martin Luther King in that city.
“Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The city council in Memphis, Tenn. voted Wednesday night to sell two city parks to a private entity in order to legally remove two Confederate statues, which were then removed hours later.
Under Tennessee law, statues on public land cannot be removed without a vote from the state legislature, which is unlikely in the Republican state. But the Memphis city council voted to sell the parks for $1,000 each to Memphis Greenspace Inc., which began removing the statues shortly after the vote.
"Health Sciences Park and Memphis Park have been sold," Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland tweeted. "Operations on those sites tonight are being conducted by a private entity and are compliant with state law.
Supporters of the state removals gathered at the parks to celebrate the moment.”
Micaela Watts, a Memphis reporter, caught the magic moment on video…
Predictably, not everyone was pleased.
"This is a fix, and a scam, and if the state has one hair on its ass then people will be charged with felonies," the Sons of Confederate Veterans said in a post on Facebook opposing the sale of the land.
Uh, no laws were broken here, Johnny Reb, just some quick thinking by a city council determined to remove a blight from it’s from its parks ahead of an important anniversary.