White-Pride 'Rock Stone Mountain' Rally Set For Saturday

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA -- A rally billing itself as the first "openly pro-white" demonstration since church shootings in Charleston, S.C. focused new attention on Confederate iconography is set for Saturday at Stone Mountain.

Rock Stone Mountain, a "pro White march up Stone Mountain" according to its Facebook page, is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

The group's application for the rally estimates anywhere from 200 to 2,000 people will attend.

How large a group actually gathers on Saturday for Rock Stone Mountain remains to be seen. In many cases, turnout for controversial events like this end up being far smaller than organizers predict.

(An example: A much-ballyhooed armed protest of Islam at the Georgia state capitol this week ended up drawing two people, who were badly outnumbered by media, curiosity-seekers and police.)

But on their Facebook page, organizers this week were speaking in grandiose terms about the rally.

"Many organizations and groups throughout the nation and parts of the world who are unable to attend are working on events where they are to show support and to stand with us," a recent post reads. "No matter where you are there are ways you can gather with friends and family and make a stand for our history and heritage. This event will make groundbreaking history for our folk from now on."

In various posts, the group has argued that Confederate iconography, like the carvings of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis on Stone Mountain, are at risk of being wiped out.

For its part, Stone Mountain Park, in an ethnically diverse suburb of Atlanta, would prefer to have nothing to do with the group.

"We were hoping for rain, to be honest," said John Bankhead, spokesman for the Stone Mountain Memorial Association. "But it's a First Amendment issue. The courts have already decided that people have the right to gather and rally and exercise their First Amendment rights."

And heavy police presence will be on hand at the park Saturday, Bankhead said. Units from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Department of Corrections and DeKalb County Sheriff's deputies will be among those augmenting a presence by park police.

The park also has assigned specific locations at which the Rock Stone Mountain group and various groups planning to counter-protest may assemble, he said.

"We're holding these groups to their promises that their rallies will be peaceful," Bankhead said.

He said park officials hope the rallies won't impact other people coming to the park. But at least one event has already been canceled because of the white-pride event.

A Gwinnett County high school has moved its prom, which had been scheduled Saturday night at the Atlanta Evergreen Marriott Resort in Stone Mountain Park.

Peachtree Ridge High Schools prom will now be at the Westin Buckhead Atlanta.

“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 last month.

(Photo via "Rock Stone Mountain" Facebook page)