Resolution Honoring Klan Leader Denounced

Lawmakers in Tennessee say they were tricked into voting for a resolution honoring a Confederate general, slave trader and early Ku Klux Klan leader, and they're denouncing it.

Democratic Rep. Antonio Parkinson of Memphis told his House colleagues Thursday it was unfair to include the resolution honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest among a slew of uncontroversial measures about school valedictorians, sports teams and wedding anniversaries.

Parkinson said, "It's sickening, it's underhanded, it's conniving, it's crafty, it's shady."

Republican Rep. Mike Sparks sponsored the resolution that passed days after a separate measure honoring Forrest and the state's first black state lawmaker was defeated in a House committee. Sparks said Thursday that he apologizes to the Black Caucus of State Legislators "if anybody's offended."

Republican leaders say it's too late to reconsider the vote.