Georgia 鈥榯each-in鈥� highlights effort to transform largest Confederate monument
Of the thousands of monuments and other symbols of the 鈥淟ost Cause鈥� scattered across public spaces in the South, one stands out as the most grandiose of all 鈥� and the most celebrated by white supremacists: the , located 16 miles east of Atlanta.
The monument鈥檚 carving of leading Confederate figures Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas 鈥淪tonewall鈥� Jackson on horseback stretches 200 feet across the north face of a 1,700-foot-high quartz and granite dome.
It was on Stone Mountain鈥檚 summit that the Ku Klux Klan was with a cross burning in 1915, the same year the commissioned the carving. The Klan met regularly for decades at the foot of the mountain and held cross burnings into the 1960s.
And it was there, on April 27, where members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) from across the Southeast congregated for a Confederate Memorial Day service, as they do annually during so-called .
But as they did, new questions were being raised by critics who have been working for years to fundamentally transform the 3,200-acre park that encompasses the monument 鈥� a place where streets are named for Confederate leaders, where Confederate battle flags fly and where Confederate memorabilia is sold.
To counter the SCV鈥檚 white supremacist message, the grassroots advocacy group (SMAC) hosted a daylong 鈥淪ocial Justice Teach-In鈥� on the same day, April 27, at Community Books.
At the heart of the latest controversy is a plan by the state-appointed Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA), which governs the park, to spend over $11 million of taxpayers鈥� money to renovate the existing Memorial Hall鈥檚 interior with new and revised exhibits that purport to tell the true history of the monument and the Confederacy. An additional $4.2 million will be spent to upgrade the building鈥檚 exterior. The building will still be called Memorial Hall.
The lack of transparency about the plan and questions about its funding worry advocates who are pressing to ultimately eradicate a monument that glorifies the Confederacy and promotes the . In April 2023, the SMMA signed a contract with Warner Museums without first presenting it or its to the community for review and approval.
鈥淲e want truth,鈥� said Sally Stanhope, a high school social studies teacher and SMAC co-founder. 鈥淲e want to work with Warner, but the truth they present in their proposal leaves out key aspects. There is nothing about in the late 19th century or interracial alliances among quarry workers. Everything in the proposal is true, but it silences aspects of our past that Americans need to face and understand in order to solve our present problems.鈥澛�
鈥楢llowed evil in the park鈥�
Leela Brown calls Stone Mountain itself 鈥渁 gift from God.鈥�
An ordained minister who lives outside Atlanta, Brown grew up in the tight-knit, predominantly Black community of Stone Mountain, where her mother still lives. Brown has appeared on SMAC panels to tell the public about the true history of Stone Mountain.
As a young girl in the 1960s, Brown played in the same pasture at the foot of the mountain where, on Saturdays, white-hooded Klansmen from across the country, including Stone Mountain merchants, held a parade before their revered tribute to the Confederacy.
鈥淪tone Mountain is a wonder from God, but it is not a Confederate wonder,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 belong to the KKK or the neo-Nazis. We allowed evil in the park. Let it continue to deteriorate from weather and rain. Blast it off. Change the names of the streets. Tell the truth about Stone Mountain 鈥� so, it鈥檚 a monument for all people, celebrating the mountain itself.鈥�
At SMAC鈥檚 counter event on April 27, Georgia state Rep. Billy Mitchell and high school students, organizers, bookstore visitors and SMAC supporters discussed topics such as countering hate, restorative justice and Shermantown, a historically Black community adjacent to the mountain.
During the youth panel, high school students discussed topics frequently featured in educational resources developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center鈥檚 program 鈥� for example, the importance of knowing local, accurate history and the long-term mental effects of living in the shadow of Confederate symbols.
A series of workshops presented the accurate history of Stone Mountain, the state鈥檚 use of taxpayer funds to maintain the park, citizen efforts to resist and subvert white supremacy, and ways to make the park more inclusive.
In support of SMAC鈥檚 education efforts, in June the 人兽性交 will fund a free, the true history of Stone Mountain to children ages 12 to 18. SMAC is one of eight grassroots organizations that are receiving grants from the 人兽性交 to aid them in their efforts to remove Confederate monuments and other iconography from public spaces in their communities.
鈥淧iloting this one-time sub-grant program allows the 人兽性交 to directly support grassroots organizations like SMAC that are working to build power and capacity for multiracial, inclusive democracy,鈥� said Rivka Maizlish, a senior research analyst with the 人兽性交鈥檚 Intelligence Project. The project tracks Confederate monuments and their removal for the 人兽性交鈥檚 Whose Heritage? initiative.
鈥淓xposing the lies of Lost Cause mythology and educating people about true history is an important way to build community power,鈥� Maizlish said. 鈥淵oung people are an essential force in building that power.鈥�
A losing proposition
SMAC members have good reason to be wary of the SMMA鈥檚 lack of transparency.
Since 2019, the SMMA has used more than $40 million in taxpayer funding to maintain the monument and the aging park鈥檚 decaying infrastructure, according to SMAC co-founder and asset manager Brian Morris.
Morris scrutinized SMMA finance reports and discovered that after 2018 鈥� once extremist rallies had begun driving visitors away and its longtime operations management company had of the park 鈥� the SMMA violated its stated promise to take no taxpayer funds.
鈥淭he SMMA has done nothing more than lose money,鈥� Morris said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e begun work on Memorial Hall but have yet to hold a town hall for public comment. They need to hire an independent third party to conduct a feasibility and economic impact study.鈥�
An analysis of the park鈥檚 2023 performance conducted earlier this year by its current management company confirmed the financial fallout from declining attendance, revenue and operating income.
After SMAC confronted the SMMA in 2021, it quietly removed from its website the declaration stating that the park is 鈥渟elf-supporting and receives no tax dollars.鈥� To date, the SMMA has never presented the full scope of the park鈥檚 reliance on taxpayer support at public meetings.
Now SMAC leaders want to know: Who will pay for the $15.2 million museum?
Confederate sympathizers
In 2021, SMAC proposed to the park, namely the reorientation of its focus away from the Confederacy to one that embraces its natural beauty. But the advocates know they face stiff political resistance in Georgia.
Thus far, and the GOP-controlled Legislature are in lockstep to protect the park as it is.
In fact, as the movement to remove Confederate monuments has strengthened, Kemp has doubled down on measures to protect Georgia鈥檚 monuments.
In 2019, he signed , criminalizing the removal or destruction of monuments on private or public property. The bill鈥檚 was state Sen. Jeff Mullis, an SCV member whom Kemp appointed to the SMMA. A 2022 statute added for any monument on public property that is 鈥渞elocated, removed, concealed, obscured, or altered in any fashion by any officer or agency.鈥�
鈥淭hey鈥檝e committed to the SCV and a small minority of state voters,鈥� said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver. 鈥淚鈥檓 frustrated that legislative leaders who like to tout Georgia as the best place to do business support the park as a Confederate monument. The conference center has less than 40% occupancy. It鈥檚 irrational to stay committed to memorializing the Confederacy.鈥�
Oliver co-sponsored in the recently ended legislative session, only to see it die in committee, like similar bills before it. The , the organization鈥檚 lobbying entity, supported the bill.
Had the bill become law, it would have removed all Confederate references in the park and renamed the SMMA as the Stone Mountain Park Association. Oliver recently co-sponsored to rename Memorial Drive as Veterans Memorial Drive.
鈥楲ost Cause鈥� politics
The allegiance of the governor and a majority of state lawmakers to the park鈥檚 Confederate iconography, political observers say, is rooted in a deep-seated reverence for Confederate history among many voters who have shifted to the conservative camp in the last three decades.聽The shift is linked to the General Assembly鈥檚 decision in 1956 鈥� two years before the state purchased Stone Mountain 鈥� to embed the Confederate battle emblem in the state flag following the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 1954 school desegregation ruling in . The state鈥檚 action was a symbol of protest against integration.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 bring in tourists who will be offended, and [the park is] not economically viable,鈥� said Jim Galloway, the now-retired, longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution political columnist.
鈥淏ut when Gov. [Roy] Barnes brought the from the Capitol [in 2001] and gave for Confederate monuments in return 鈥� and then he lost the next election 鈥� Republicans inherited Confederate enthusiasm as a political force.
鈥淭hey are married to it now. In Georgia, they are so dependent on white, rural voters, who are the most conservative in the state, that it鈥檚 paralyzed them. The Republicans are now hostage to the Lost Cause because of the rural vote.鈥�
To date, there have been no known legal challenges to the original 2001 Stone Mountain and its subsequent amendments, according to Emory University School of Law professor Fred Smith, an expert in Georgia and constitutional law.
Smith said he believes that change will happen only when corporations stop setting up shop in Georgia.
鈥淎tlanta doesn鈥檛 like when we look bad on the national stage,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淭he more attention Stone Mountain gets, the more attention that the move for change will get.鈥�
That鈥檚 just what SMAC members hope for as they gear up for the next SMMA public hearing, which is supposed to be in June.
鈥淭he bottom line is that they are spending money on things that people want who come in from out of state to look at a symbol of white supremacy,鈥� Morris said, 鈥渨hereas the local community of DeKalb, Fulton and surrounding counties who come to the park for recreation can鈥檛 find a parking space, have to use decrepit bathrooms and a couple of vending machines because there is no restaurant. If you鈥檙e going to spend $15 million, spend it on things that the locals will use.鈥�
Photo at top: Visitors at Georgia's Stone Mountain Park are seen in a photo from 2018. Since 1915, the mountain has featured a carving of Confederate figures Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas 鈥淪tonewall鈥� Jackson. (Credit: Audra Melton/The New York Times)
