The Power of a Group Against Racism

When a person stands alone with a sign or is shouting a message for everyone to hear, they are considered crazy. Most people will not stop to listen to them. Instead they will try to avoid eye contact or look away from the overzealous shouting nut with a sign. It is an awkward situation to say the least. For the last few years, working on the Stone Mountain Park project has led me to feel like that crazy person with a sign held out trying to share a message that is not being heard. It is exhausting to be the lone crazy person in a crowd and being the lone crazy person on social media doesn't feel much different. 

Not that I think I am crazy.  

Nope, I am perfectly sane....well as sane as the next guy.

But good news, I am no longer a single voice shouting in the crowd. This last week I joined the Stone Mountain Action Coalition (SMAC). It is such a relief to be working with people who want the same kind of progress and change at Stone Mountain Park that I do. SMAC is a group made up of many other different organizations and people. All of the people in SMAC think that Stone Mountain Park's Confederate theme needs to change. They do love the park, its nature elements, and many of the attractions there though. They want to preserve the good parts of this Georgia State park, but repurpose it so that its theme is one everyone in the state of Georgia will love and be proud of.

Joining SMAC has helped me realize the power of a group. Sometimes as mortals we think of power or strength on an individual basis. Is this person strong enough to lift this weight? Are they strong enough to endure this challenge? It is almost as if strength is an individual trait, but there is also strength and power in a group.

 During the civil rights era there were many people who protested on an individual basis. For example, we often talk about Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat but she was not the first black person who refused to give up their seat for a white person. A young woman by the name of Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat and was arrested 9 months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. 

So, why is Rosa Parks a household name and Claudette Colvin is not? Because of the power of a group. Claudette Colvin was one (in the eyes of others) crazy teenager who wouldn't give up her seat. People did not respect her because of her age and her loud personality. Rosa Parks on the other hand was a quiet and respected member of the community. She was a civil rights activist and because of her position in the community other civil rights activists followed her example. Civil rights leaders used Rosa Parks as a person to follow and created a movement to boycott the buses. The lack of revenue and court cases that followed made it possible for change in the United States and the buses to take down their segregation signs and laws were changed.

Today, it is not any different. One crazy person doing something to cause change is not going to make a difference. We need other people to join the group and to stand up against symbols of racism. To fight the continued battle for equality and justice. Today on Instagram Martin Luther King Jr's daughter, Bernice King, shared that her father defined justice as "Love correcting everything that stands against love." 

To understand why the Confederate Memorial carving on Stone Mountain stands against love, you need to understand a little about the history. For an infographic timeline of the carving's history click here. Although the idea for the memorial originates in 1914, Stone Mountain was not purchased by the state of Georgia until 1958. This is just four years after the Brown vs. Board of Education case ruled segregation in the schools illegal. When Governor Marvin Griffith bought the land, he wrote into Georgia laws that the land would be a confederate memorial. Why would the governor of Georgia want to create a monument to the Confederacy during the Civil Rights era? 

One year after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech - a speech that might not be as popular today if there was not such a large group in attendance - the carving began on Stone Mountain. So, when Martin Luther King Jr. said in that same speech that he wanted "freedom to ring from Stone Mountain," the state responded by raising Confederate flags and carving a Confederate monument.

How can love correct this affront against love and obvious act of racism? We can work together, unite as a group and say that we will not allow symbols of racism to stand. That is not the message we want for our children or our children's children. The Confederate Memorial was not created merely out of ancestral pride. It was created as a protest against integration. A protest that I cannot and will never support. 

Why I changed my opinion of Confederate Memorials, and you should too.

*I don't normally write political pieces, but the last two posts have been political. I understand if it is not something you like to read about, but this year I have been inspired to write these posts. I will follow that inspiration wherever it leads. 

At the beginning of this year, I did something completely out of character for me and created a Change.org petition to update the Confederate Memorial on Stone Mountain. For those who don’t know what the Confederate Memorial is or anything about Stone Mountain, I will give you a brief description. Stone Mountain is larger than Mount Rushmore. It is home to the world’s largest piece of exposed granite. It is literally a large Stone Mountain. It has Southern generals and the President of the Confederate States on their horses engraved onto the face of the mountain.[1] 

My petition to update Stone mountain was to change the memorial from one that was strictly a Confederate Memorial to a Civil War monument. It seemed like a good compromise to add those who fought against slavery to the mountain. This would allow the history of the Confederacy to be preserved while spreading a better overall message. It would give representation to both sides of the Civil War. This seemed like a great comprise to the controversy that surrounds Stone Mountain and I believed in my heart that it was the solution

As part of my efforts, I contacted the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP to get their support. They responded, “Adding anything to it only validates the vision. ‘Subtraction’ is the only way to repudiate Georgia’s racism.”  Their response made me sad because I believed that subtracting would be destroying a piece of history and an artist’s hard work.

Then a month ago Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R)[2] posted a picture of a man accused of modern-day slavery. I was disgusted that they posted his face and even more disgusted with this man’s actions. It was at this point that I realized two very important things. First, slavery has not been eradicated and it is a battle still being fought today. Second, those confederate men depicted on Stone Mountain fought to keep slavery legal and growing. I would not put the modern-day slave owner’s picture on anything, let alone carve his face onto a mountain. The only reason I need to know what he looks like is to avoid him. Yet, larger than life memorialized forever are three men who fought and won battles to keep slavery legal.

Some will argue that the Civil War was not begun as a fight for slavery. I have heard and completely understand those arguments. However, the Confederacy was fighting for the right to add more slave states to the union. Which means that they were fighting for the continuation and growth of slavery.

My question for us is how can we achieve freedom for all people when we revere and memorialize those who fought to enslave?

In a lesson on monuments by facinghistory.com they say “Monuments and memorials serve multiple functions in the communities in which they are erected. When the members of the community create a monument or memorial, they are making a statement about the ideas, values, or individuals they think their society should remember, if not honor.”[3]

Stone Mountain and its Confederate Memorial are owned by the state of Georgia. Does Georgia really want to honor and remember President Robert E Lee, General Jefferson Davis, and General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson?

These men represent the confederacy and a war that they fought to keep slavery legal; a practice that allows men to oppress and abuse their fellow men. Slave owners would rape their female slaves to produce more slaves and have all the free labor they desired. They called and considered their slaves as chattel and property. Slaves were not seen as people or equal in value to their owners.
This is not the history I want to memorialize. The history of the United States that I want to honor and remember are those men who fought for everyone’s freedom. I want to remember "The Declaration of Independence" and its creed that “all men are created equal.” This is a great example of the history of America that we should remember and honor with memorials. 

Keeping Stone Mountain as a memorial to the Confederacy is not a matter of preserving history. Stone Mountain’s history resides in the granite taken from it and used to build the Fort Knox gold depository and the foundation for the Lincoln Memorial. 

For those who say that keeping the Stone Mountain carving is preserving history, let’s review its history. The Civil War took place between 1861 and 1865. The first thought of carving confederate men onto Stone Mountain is on record as 1915, fifty years after the Civil War ended. The carving began in 1923, but that initial carving was blasted away in 1928. At that time carving began again, but only lasted for a few months. Then it stopped once more with no plans or money to begin again. The State of Georgia bought Stone Mountain in 1958 and has owned it ever since.[4]

The bulk of carving on Stone Mountain did not begin until 1964. This was the same year many people were fighting for an end to discrimination. In fact, the Civil Rights Law of 1964 (a law that prohibited segregation and employment discrimination) was passed on July 2^nd and the carving of Stone Mountain started on July 4^th, just two days later.[5] The carving of Stone Mountain was not completed until 1972. 

Stone Mountain was not carved to show respect to amazing men and their contribution to society. It was carved to show continued disrespect to those citizens of the United States who were colored. It was carved to make a stand for discrimination and against forced integration. That is the real history of the Confederate Memorial carving on Stone Mountain.

Is this what the citizens of Georgia want to remember and honor? Do they want to memorialize those who fought to enslave and discriminate, or do they want to continue to fight against slavery and discrimination?

As for me, I changed my mind. I don’t want to preserve the history of discrimination that is the Confederate Memorial on Stone Mountain. I want to fight slavery and discrimination. I want to honor and remember those who fought for freedom for all mankind in the past and those who continue to fight for it today.

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[1] https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/things-you-might-not-know-about-stone-mountain-park/bdffmFbsNskCuHX2mgEHpO/

[2] http://ourrescue.org/blog/

[3] facinghistory.com

[4] https://www.stonemountainpark.com/About/History

[5] https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act