Confederate Group Objects to MLK Monument Because He's Not a 'Confederate Hero'
LatestThe Georgia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is very upset that Stone Mountain Park officials plan to place a monument to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. atop the mountain, which has traditionally operated as a paean to “Confederate heroes.” The Sons released an angry statement in which they called it “inappropriate.” They also referred to Dr. King as “Michael King.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday that the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, a Georgia state authority which oversees the park, plans to put a replica of the Liberty Bell on top of the mountain. It would sit near carvings of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis and would be decorated with a line from “I Have a Dream”: “Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.” The Memorial Association is also separately planning a permanent exhibit on black Confederate soldiers, according to the AJC.
All of this sounds appropriate and timely—past time, one might even argue—unless, of course, you are the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Ray McBerry, the Georgia division’s spokesperson, told Reuters his group objects to the plan, on the grounds that no one but a “Confederate hero” should be honored atop the mountain.