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Black lawmakers in the Tennessee legislature are seething over a resolution honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The measure was slipped through the state House of Representatives two weeks ago. Now legislators are saying they're trying to figure out a way to take it back.
The dispute has rekindled a debate over Forrest, a Confederate general and slave trader. One that Republicans and Democrats had thought they'd avoided this year.
The controversy erupted Thursday, the first time legislators met since many lawmakers learned about the resolution.
Memphis Democrat Raumesh Akbari described the maneuvering that got it through the House as "disingenuous" and a violation of trust.
"We all come from one shared history, but we all deserve the right to know exactly what we're voting on and what we're agreeing happened," the chair of the Tennessee Legislative Black Caucus said.
Smyrna Republican Mike Sparks is responsible for the measure. Two weeks ago, he placed it on the House's consent calendar — a digest of uncontroversial resolutions. On the day it passed, lawmakers also honored a cheerleading squad, a college football coach and a group of Chattanooga volunteers.
And the resolution didn't list Forrest as its primary topic. Instead, it claimed to honor Shane Kastler, a Louisiana pastor and writer. One of his books is about Forrest.
Sparks initially told the Associated Press that he'd done nothing wrong, but on Thursday he made something of an apology.
"Many of y'all know I have a passion for history, like many of y'all do. So, to my colleagues in the black caucus, if anybody's offended, I apologize to y'all."
Some refused to accept it.
What has several members of the black caucus most upset was they thought they'd stopped plans to honor Forrest. Earlier this year, Sparks had asked them to jointly honor Forrest and Sampson Keeble, the state's first black legislator. They told him it was a bad idea.
Black caucus members now say they want to rescind the resolution somehow, even though its been signed. They say future generations shouldn't mistake their action as an endorsement of Forrest.
But that could open the same sort of fight as efforts to remove Forrest's bust from the state Capitol did two summers ago. That push began in the wake of the Charleston church shooting, when many states reassessed their Confederate memorials, but it petered out last year.
Some say they're tired of debating Forrest's legacy. But it’s a debate Tennessee legislators can't seem to avoid.
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