Within view of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, a billboard honoring the founder of the Ku Klux Klan was erected just days before the arrival of President Obama.
The sign invites visitors to come and see “Selma’s War Between The States Historic Sights” but it also includes pictures of the Confederate flag and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, founder of the KKK. Besides Forrest’s picture is also the saying, “Keep the Skeer on em,” that was adopted by Forrest’s men.
President Barack Obama arrived in Selma to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic march on to Montgomery where hundreds of protesters were attacked by police on Sunday March 7, 1965, better known as “Bloody Sunday.”
Several citizens of Selma expressed that the sign should be taken down because many people think of Forrest as the founder of the KKK and that it reminds them of the violence and the prejudice suffered by many African Americans in the past. But the head of the group responsible for the billboard ignored the suggestion stating that the billboard was being used with positive intent to ask people to explore 19th century historic sights.
Patricia Goodwin, head of the group, Friends of Forrest Inc., said that the location of the billboard was chosen because it was highly visible to visitors. Directly on the other side of the billboard is a sign containing a welcome message to President Obama and others coming to commemorate Bloody Sunday.
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