NAACP Wants Confederates Off Stone Mountain: News Nearby

What’s your opinion of the NAACP’s demand to remove Confederate images at Stone Mountain Park? Tell us in the comments.

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The Atlanta chapter of the NAACP is demanding the removal of the famous relief of Confederate luminaries Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and ‘Stonewall’ Jackson from the granite of Stone Mountain in the wake of backlash against symbols of the South’s slave-owning past.

President Richard Rose of the Atlanta NAACP decries the presence of the Confederate president and generals on the rock as “government-sponsored hate” and wants to see all Confederate items inside Stone Mountain Park removed from public view.

Rose suggested to WSB-TV that the figures could be sandblasted off the rock or the entire section of the granite edifice be removed as one big slab. The figures were carved into the rock between 1923 and 1977 and are the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world.

Stone Mountain Park told WSB-TV that any changes to the park, including removal of Confederate symbols, would be at the discretion of the state legislature.

Last Friday, the Confederate flag that flew over the South Carolina State Capitol waslowered for the final time. The flag was taken down in a ceremony presided over by Gov. Nikki Haley. An African-American member of the Highway Patrol Honor Guard officially took down and carried the flag, which will be moved to the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.

Photo: Jim Bowen/Flickr