( CNN ) -- The Mississippi NAACP has called on Governor Haley Barbour to publicly denounce an attempt by a Confederacy group to honor a Ku Klux Klan leader , the organization said Monday . The Sons of Confederate Veterans has launched the campaign to recognize Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest on a specialty license plate . Forrest , a popular and controversial figure , is best known as a leader of the KKK , the white supremacist group known for terrorizing blacks in the South after the Civil War . He is also praised and criticized for an 1864 raid at Fort Pillow , Tennessee , where hundreds of black Union Army members were killed during the war . The controversy over whether Forrest conducted or condoned the massacre is still a matter for heated debate . Mississippi NAACP leaders feel a state-sanctioned license plate honoring a man with ties to the KKK sends the wrong message to people in the state and across the country . `` Any individual who was a traitor to our country and our Constitution should be treated as such , '' said Derrick Johnson , president of the state NAACP chapter . Forrest was a `` terrorist '' whose acts were `` immoral and unconstitutional , '' Johnson said . Honoring him or anyone who promoted racial hatred or violence would be offensive , he said . The NAACP is n't alone in its protest against the SCV . More than 1,700 Mississippians have joined a Facebook group called Mississippians Against The Commemoration Of Grand Wizard Nathan Forrest . The group 's website says they `` are united in sending a message to the state government of Mississippi that WE WILL NOT STAND for the public glorification of one of the original leaders of the Ku Klux Klan . '' The proposal by the Sons of Confederate Veterans seeks to honor Confederate generals . `` If we ca n't hold him up to where he 's supposed to be , then nobody else is gon na do it , '' group member Greg Stewart said . Forrest is being `` unfairly maligned , '' he told CNN . Most historians agree that Forrest left the KKK after less than two years because the small pockets of groups were growing rapidly , were unorganized and violent . Forrest felt `` they had the right idea , but went about it the wrong way , '' said Mike Martinez , a part-time political science instructor at Kennesaw State University . Despite his short stint with the Klan , Martinez said Forrest 's affiliation with the organization gave it credibility . Stewart said Forrest was chosen to be recognized not because of his time with the KKK , but for his spirit and leadership during the Civil War . His image is one in a series of five that will have to be approved on a year-by-year basis by the state legislature , Stewart said . Other Confederacy symbols to be used on license plates are Beauvoir , the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library , the battle for Vicksburg , the battle of Shiloh and Confederate soldiers . One image still under consideration that may surprise many people is that Holt Collier , an African American who fought for the Confederacy and eventually served under President Theodore Roosevelt as a bear tracker . Collier is best known for the famous Mississippi hunt where Roosevelt refused to shoot a wounded bear . It became known as the `` Teddy Bear '' craze . The SCV group has had a specialty license plate since 2003 . The image of a small Confederate flag was used until last year when it was redesigned . Money from the sale of the plates is used to repair state-owned historical flags . Barbour has not responded to the controversy since it began making headlines last week . He spoke this weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington , D.C. , and is said to be setting his sights on a run for the White House in 2012 . He finished 15th in a CPAC straw poll . A call to the governor 's office from CNN on Monday has not been returned .
Confederacy group launches campaign to honor Ku Klux Klan leader . The Confederate flag is flying at the South Carolina state capitol in Columbia on Monday as a memorial for Robert E. Lee. Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to honor Confederate generals . Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has not responded to the controversy .