DOVER, Tenn (CLARKSVILLENOW) – A Confederate Monument located at Fort Donelson in Stewart County has been vandalized.
Written in black spray paint on the statue and the paved ground surrounding it were phrases including ‘racist,’ ‘defund police,’ and ‘take me down.’
“This act has clearly sparked emotion and was without a doubt, a cowardly thing to do but it is not cause for people to turn on each other with baseless accusations,” said Dover Police Chief Dennis Honholt on Facebook.
The statue was put in place by the Tennessee Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1933 and memorializes confederate soldiers who died at Fort Donelson.
The investigation into the statue’s current state has been turned over to the National Parks Service as the incident occurred on federal property.
The debate over confederate monuments and their removal from public spaces has become a hot topic in the past week as protests over police brutality and systemic racism continue across the country.
In the past week, in St. Paul Minnesota; Charleston, S.C; Raleigh, N.C; Richmond and Birmingham, Alabama, protesters have topple and/destroyed statues honoring Christopher Columbus, who, while not a confederate figure, has been criticized by historians for his harsh treatment of indigenous people.
Wednesday, June 10, a committee of Tennessee lawmakers voted down a resolution (11-5) to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, founder and first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, from the state capitol building.
The State House also voted yesterday to continue recognizing Nathan Bedford Forrest Day (June 13), though the governor will no longer be required to sign an official proclamation honoring the confederate general and slave trader.