A Democrat running to become America’s first black female governor wants to demolish the ‘Confederate Mount Rushmore’ in Atlanta, over its links to the KKK and white nationalism.
Stacey Abrams, who is a leading Democrat candidate to run for Georgia’s governor wrote to supporters following the Charlottesville violence outlining her plan.
She said the images of Confederate President Jefferson Davis alongside Generals Robert E Lee and Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson ‘like Confederate monuments across this state, stand as constant reminders of racism, intolerance and division’.
Stacey Abrams, who is running to become the first black female governor in Georgia has called for the demolition of a carving showing, from left, Jefferson Davis, president of the confederate states and Generals Robert E Lee and Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson
The calls for the monument’s demolition are being led by Democrat Stacey Abrams who aims to become the first black woman to become governor in the US by running in Georgia
The trio were carved into Stone Mountain in Georgia on a rocky granite outcrop describes as the ‘Mount Rushmore of the Confederacy’.
The monument measures 90 feet, by 190 feet.
The park, east of Atlanta, has been the site of violent clashes in the past as the KKK were confronted by anti-fascist activists.
Abrams called for the carving to be removed from the park which is the centerpiece of one of Georgia’s biggest tourist destinations.
The artwork was commissioned following a request by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1915, although a shortage of funding delayed the project’s completion until 1972.
Yet, on Thanksgiving night in 1915 the KKK held their annual cross burning for the first time on top of Stone Mountain.
Georgia Historical Society historian Stan Deaton said it’s significant that the monument was begun as the KKK was reborn and completed following the civil rights movement and desegregation. He said many Southern politicians still chafed at changes imposed by what they considered an intrusive federal government.
Deaton said: ‘As a segregated society is coming to an end, we’re going to forever enshrine these three Confederate heroes on the front of this mountain as a kind of perpetual middle finger, if you will, to the federal government.’
There has been widespread revulsion across the United States following the march in Charlottesville, attended by Fields, second left, who is facing second degree murder charges
The Stone Mountain memorial was first mooted in 1915 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, but due to funding problems it was not completed until 1972
The location was the site of an annual Ku Klux Klan cross burning, pictured here in 1948
Confederate flag supporters claim the anti-fascist protesters are trying to deny their heritage
The Sacred Knights of the Ku Klux Klan applied last May for a permit to hold a ‘lighting ceremony’ on top of the mountain on October 21 to commemorate the 1915 burning.
In a letter last week denying the permit, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association cited a disruptive 2016 clash between a white nationalist group and opponents at the park.
The association ‘condemns the beliefs and actions of the Ku Klux Klan’ and believes denying the permit ‘is in the best interest of all parties and is the appropriate course of action,’ it said in a statement.
John Purpera, who’s white, stopped last week at Stone Mountain with his wife and son while driving from their home in Port St. Lucie, Florida, to St. Louis to see the solar eclipse. Originally from Louisiana, he opposes the removal of Confederate statues.
John Purpera, who is originally from Louisiana and but living in Florida is uncompromising in his view about the monument. He said: ‘The people that want it removed should be shot’
He said: ‘The people that want it removed should be shot. It’s part of history, and you shouldn’t just delete parts of history you don’t like.’
Even if Abrams wins the nomination and beats the odds next year to become governor of this red state, it’s unlikely she would be able to get the carving removed. State law says it ‘shall never be altered, removed, concealed or obscured in any fashion and shall be preserved and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.’
That language was part of a compromise in a 2001 law that changed the state flag from one that included the Confederate battle flag.
It would be extremely difficult to muster enough support in the Georgia General Assembly to change the law, University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock said.
‘That’s going to be a lot harder than pulling down a statue,’ he quipped.
Abrams made her call after a white nationalist was accused of murder having plowed into protesters demonstrating against fascism in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12
James Alex Fields, left, is accused of the second degree murder of demonstrator Heather Heyer who died after she was struck by the car driven by Fields on August 12