Protesters celebrate after the Capitol Commission's vote
Local racial justice activists celebrated a big victory in a years-long struggle on July 9, after the State Capitol Commission voted to request the removal of the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest. Activists who have been occupying a section of Legislative Plaza took to the Capitol building’s steps after the vote to dance and chant "We win!" It's a big relief, especially since many of them spent 27 turbulent days outdoors, enduring arrests and calling for the bust to be taken out of the Capitol.
“I'm feeling a sense of victory, but also a sense of grief of how much it took to get to this point,” says activist Justin Jones, who has spent many days and nights at the plaza in recent weeks. “So many of us have been arrested multiple times in these past 26 days, have been beaten, have been threatened.”
Jones tells the Scene that for many activists, the struggle to remove the bust goes back to 2015, following the Charleston church massacre — though Black Lives Matter protests over the past few weeks have of course spotlighted the issue. Forrest was a Confederate general, an early Ku Klux Klan leader and alleged war criminal, and calls to remove the bust from its place of prominence outside the Senate chamber echo calls across the country to take down similarly problematic monuments.
Several protesters, Jones included, attempted to camp outside the Capitol building on June 12, and though the campsite was removed the next day, the effort kicked off 27 days of occupation on Legislative Plaza. Protesters called the area both the Ida B. Wells Plaza — after the famed Black journalist and civil rights leader — and the People’s Plaza, and they worked in shifts to keep their site occupied. The Tennessee Highway Patrol often raided the site and confiscated items. They also arrested protesters, especially after some of the larger demonstrations nearby.
Jay Terry, who was arrested six times over those 27 days, says she suffered a concussion during her second arrest when a state trooper pushed her to the ground. She says 10 days later, a state trooper pushed her off the wall surrounding the Capitol, and when she landed, she broke her arm. Terry was wearing a sling the day of the vote, but took it off once the protesters began celebrating, comparing it to a shackle she wanted to take off.
Many protesters have accused the state troopers of excessive force, and have also complained of unsanitary conditions at the county jail. On June 28, when 38 protesters were arrested, many said state troopers pushed and shoved them and made them wait hours in the hot sun with tight zip ties bruising their wrists.
Protesters arrested at Capitol on July 4
On July 4, following yet another massive march led by Teens for Equality, state troopers arrested 55 protesters at the Capitol building and charged them with criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor citation. The arrests were made shortly after protesters removed the barricades that had closed off the steps of the Capitol building and dozens of people began climbing the stairs.
Christiana Roberson tells the Scene that she was at the top of the steps that day when she saw state troopers, zip ties hanging from their belts, step into the crowd and begin grabbing people. Roberson sat down, and people around her began to lie down and link arms in protest.
“They were just snatching people up, grabbing people and, you know, pulling people from the pile where there's a lot of us laid up,” says Roberson. Four troopers approached her, and each one grabbed a limb — “They grabbed me and carried me away and carried me to the back of the Capitol," she says.
Protesters were eventually taken to the Mobile Booking Unit and then to the Davidson County Downtown Detention Center — from arrest to release, many protesters were held for roughly 12 hours.
Andrew Golden, a musician and protester who was arrested on July 4, also described to the Scene crowded and unsanitary conditions at the detention center, which were concerning given the ongoing pandemic. When he and other arrestees finally made it to the county jail, he says they all had their temperatures taken with the same oral thermometer with disposable plastic covers replaced between uses — though the nurse wiped off the disposable covers directly onto the side of the trashcan. He says he overheard one nurse at the jail dismiss COVID-19 as being similar to the common cold.
Filmmaker Jama Mohamed was also arrested that day, and tells the Scene that in his opinion the correctional officers aren’t taking the pandemic seriously.
Mohamed also describes the incident in which officers used chemical agents on a man. He says the chemical — possibly pepper spray — leaked out of the cell and affected officers, staff and protesters.
“Now everybody is coughing," Mohamed says of the events on July 4. "Staff is coughing. People are throwing up.”
Mohamed was in disbelief, not only because of the officers’ use of chemical agents on the man, but also because they triggered coughing and sneezing in the midst of a pandemic. “It was just mind-boggling,” he says. A DCSO jail saw a COVID-19 outbreak weeks earlier.
Roberson, who has asthma, was especially sensitive to the chemicals, and began coughing, wheezing and panicking. Eventually staff took her oxygen levels, and put her into a solitary cell.
Mohamed claims that, after the officers used the chemical agent, it sounded like they began hitting the man. The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office confirms to the Scene that “there was an incident with a disruptive individual in the DDC Booking area” and that chemicals were used.
A DCSO spokesperson elaborates:
The incident with the disruptive inmate began with officers attempting to gain voluntary compliance and then they moved to a variety of crisis intervention techniques. For the safety of all parties, restraints needed to be [placed] on the inmate for a move to restrictive housing. All dialogue proved to be unsuccessful, a chemical agent was introduced inside the single cell, additional dialogue was attempted and failed. It wasn’t until that point, officers entered the cell to physically restrain the individual. This incident, along with every incident of this nature, is reviewed by the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office Behavior Response Team.
The spokesperson also says all correctional officers are provided masks and are expected to wear them, but: “Upon review, there was one officer that wore his mask pulled down beneath his chin. This has been addressed with the officer.”
DCSO adds that while hand sanitizer is not available to arrestees, the restrooms are accessible and “are regularly cleaned, stocked, and have soap and water available for washing.”
On July 7, according to protesters, state troopers raided the plaza site and arrested dozens of people in the early morning — Roberson says some of those arrested included people experiencing homelessness.
But protesters don't regret their time at the plaza, even with the arrests.
“Every minute of it was worth it,” says Mohamed, watching the celebration at the Capitol.
Roberson says that while she is a bit drained, she’s excited and that “spirits are higher than they ever have been.”
The Tennessee Historical Commission has the final say in whether the Forrest bust stays in the Capitol or gets moved to the Tennessee State Museum. But protesters like Jones stress the battle over the bust is just one part of a long struggle. “We want to remove the racist statues and the statutes — the laws and policies that these symbols represent,” he says.
Terry adds that other long-term goals include defunding and demilitarizing the police and investing in vulnerable communities, as well as the removal of Confederate statues across the state.
But for now, Terry is going to enjoy the victory.
“There were times when I thought that it wasn't going to pay off. There were times when I had doubts, but today we proved that we were going to win. And if they ever try shit like this again, we're going to be right back out here.”
