Plates for Forrest

I came across the article "The South lost-get over it" , its about Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest founded the Ku Klux Klan, prior to The Civil War he was a wealthy cotton planter and a slave trader. The state of Mississippi is considering to honor Forrest with a vanity plate, the request was made by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The author of the article feels Forrest is unworthy of honor due to all the violence towards blacks. He also feels that the South fought The Civil War in defense of slavery and racism and that they need to accept that they lost the war and wants them to stop trying to hold on to it. "It did so first through the expedient of lynch mob violence and Jim Crow laws. Now it clings to discredited 19th century symbols like driftwood, obsessively reworks history trying to make the facts other than what they are." I researched the author of the article Leonard Pitts Jr., he works for the Miami Hearld, is a best selling author and has won a Pulitzer Prize. One of his books is "Becoming Dad, Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood. Mr. Pitts is also black, he recently spoke on February 17th at ongoing tribute to Black History Month "he called for self-examination and critical reasoning about society and race in his lecture titled "The Water in the Glass." After learning a bit of Mr. Pitts, I believe he is well credited in what he speaks of. 

As I was reading the article I understood where Pitts was coming from and completely saw his point how can you "honor" a man who was slave trader and formed a vigilante group whose goal was to harm black people, people who had families who were some one's dad, mom, child just because they were black. I myself do not get how you can hate someone simply because of their race. I also think that when Mr. Pitts says for the South to "get over it", it is hard for them not because of race but due to economics. The Civil War ended slavery yes, but it also killed Forrest's and the South's source of money. Forrest was a cotton planter, slaves were the fuel of his business and as a slave trader, slaves were his business. I don't approve of slavery but place yourself in Forrest's shoes slavery was the norm  it was around before he was born so its what he knew to be okay. The Civil War was fought because  the country's decisions were in favor of the industrial  growth of the North and was not considering the South. Losing the war and their main economic resource was a blow to the South. I am sure the South wouldn't be as poor now had The Civil War turned out differently. I don't think Mr. Pitts would like it if someone said to him "So we had blacks as slaves 150 years ago- get over it" I agree there shouldn't be vanity plates of Nathan Bedford Forrest, he is the founder of a group who have made violent acts towards people. The Civil War and the aftermath the South faced was not all racial it was also economical and i think the South is still enduring the economical fall out of The Civil War.