Nathan Bedford Forrest statue removed

A controversial statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest on private land overlooking Interstate 65 was removed Tuesday after standing for more than two decades.

• Local leaders were fiercely critical of the statue, which showed the Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader with a wild grin riding a horse.
• It has been vandalized several times over the years. In 2017, it was doused with bright pink paint.

What they're saying: "This has been a national embarrassment," state Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, told the Tennessean. "I’m so excited. This is great news.

• "It's just so hurtful to people, not to mention it's heinously ugly."

Why it matters: The removal comes amid an ongoing reckoning over racism and symbols of the Confederacy. Forrest has become emblematic of those debates in Tennessee.

• His bust was removed from the State Capitol earlier this year, a move Gov. Bill Lee supported by saying Forrest "represents pain and suffering and brutal crimes committed against African Americans."

Driving the news: Bill Dorris owned the land and the statue. He defended its historic value until his death last year.

• Dorris' will names the Battle of Nashville Trust as a beneficiary and the recipient of much of his property. The decision to remove the statue was made by the trust in consultation with the executor of Dorris' will, according to a statement from both parties.
• It called the statue "ugly and a blight on Nashville," adding that it distracted from the trust's mission. No decision has been about what will happen to the statue in the future, according to the statement.