MEMPHIS, TN (CBS/WREG) -- A controversy continues in Memphis over a park named in honor of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Nathan Bedford Forrest hasn't been in the news this much since the 1800s. And now this park named in his honors causing a firestorm of controversy at city hall. Some council members not only want to change the name of the park but also remove that statue and his body which is buried underneath.
Councilwoman Janis Fullilove says Forrest Park is a shrine to the KKK. She and the council are considering an ordinance stripping Forrest's name from the park and renaming it after civil rights activist Ida B Wells. She says, "One man oppressed and killed black people and here is another woman who became a savior of black people."
Myron Lowery came up with the idea of changing the park's name but Forrest's supporters showed off this letter Lowery wrote praising a controversial marker the city removed saying it didn't get proper approval.
Councilman William Boyd says he researched Forrest and calls him a world famous general, businessman and supporter of African Americans in Memphis and his ties to the KKK are misunderstood. She says, "He came on several years later and was elected head of the organization and wasn't even present. He didn't seek it or anything."
Boyd says he wants Wells to have her own park.