MLK monument to be built above Confederate heroes at Stone Mountain

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the Georgia chapter of the group took a hard stance on Monday against a planned monument to Martin Luther King Jr.at Stone Mountain State Park, home to a well-known Confederate memorial carved into the cliff face of the mountain. The tower would feature a replica of the Liberty Bell and play off of a King quote from his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech: “Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia”.

Yet along with the outdoor attractions, the granite monadnock features a number of Confederate symbols, not least the mammoth engraving of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson – the largest high-relief sculpture in the world, according to Stone Mountain Park. Ray McBerry, a spokesperson for the Georgia Sons of Confederate Veterans, said adding the MLK memorial to Stone Mountain would “distract from memorializing Confederate history”.

Stephens said through email that arranges are simply starting with points of interest to be worked out. Neither officials with Stone Mountain Park nor the governor’s office could immediately be reached for comment.

The move is significant because 3,200-acre Stone Mountain is also known as the place where the Ku Klux Klan, founded following the Civil War, was revived in 1915.

The group also says a monument to Dr. King would be “akin to the state flying a Confederate Battle flag atop the King Center in Atlanta”. A few critics want that sand-blasted away. The erection of monuments to anyone other than Confederate heroes in Stone Mountain Park is in contradistinction to the objective for which the park exists and would make it a memorial to something different. The park receives more than 4 million visitors each year, making it one of Georgia’s most popular tourist locations.

The Stone Mountain Authority is in the beginning stages of planning the monumnet and could have a final proposal by December.

This summer, Stone Mountain became a natural rallying point – for those hoping to banish the Confederate flag and for those hoping to preserve it – after the Charleston massacre of nine black churchgoers by a white man who identified with the Confederacy.

“Both would be altogether inappropriate and disrespectful acts, repugnant to Christian people”, said the statement.