Prom Moved Over White Supremacist Rally

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA -- A Gwinnett County high school has moved its prom away from Stone Mountain over concerns about an "openly pro-white" rally being held there the same day.

Peachtree Ridge High School announced Thursday that its April 23 prom has been moved from Atlanta Evergreen Marriott Resort in Stone Mountain Park to the Westin Buckhead Atlanta.

That's the same day as "Rock Stone Mountain," an event described on its Facebook page as "an openly pro-white march up Stone Mountain that climaxes in a rally at the top," followed by a "pro-white" concert at another location.

School administrators had been aware of the event, but originally said they were confident there would be little overlap between the 11 a.m. rally and the 8 p.m. prom at a different part of the park.

But, in the end, concerns won out.

“While school leaders had been reassured that the prom and the other event would not overlap, they listened and understood the concerns raised by parents and community members and continued to look for alternative options," Peachtree Ridge principal Jeff Matthews said in a letter to parents.

The Atlanta Evergreen Marriott released Peachtree Ridge from their contract, Matthews said.

Stone Mountain Park officials have said they plan to have extra security on hand the day of the Rock Stone Mountain event.

At least two groups have publicly announced plans to show up and protest the rally.

With its mammoth engraving of Southern Civil War figures Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis, Stone Mountain has become a hot spot of sorts since last year's Charleston church shooting spurred renewed scrutiny of Confederate imagery.

Some self-described Southern heritage groups were angered in October, when state officials announced plans to erect a monument to Atlanta's Martin Luther King Jr. atop Stone Mountain.

Other new additions to the park, which sits in an ethnically diverse region of metro Atlanta and typically plays host to a similarly diverse set of visitors, include a permanent exhibit on black soldiers in the Civil War.

(Photo via Rock Stone Mountain Facebook page)