The controversy over the attempt by a confederacy group to honor Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest –  a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization terrorizing people of color in the South – on a specialty license plate does not make any sense. Mississipi Governor Haley Barbour is caught in the middle of the controversy.

We still live in a country where the confederate flag is a subject of anger and a reminder of a painful past. Confederacy groups and the NAACP will never agree. Governor Haley Barbour will likely stay quiet because he needs to keep his electorate happy.

The NAACP should know that they cannot rewrite history. It is better to look ahead than waste time on a small group of people who want a national attention. The NAACP should know, as the Bedouin of Egypt say, “Silence is the best answer to the stupid. The fool has his answer on the tip of his tongue.”