The Confederate Carving at Stone Mountain
There was a recent meeting of the gubernatorial-appointed Stone Mountain Memorial Association, which oversees the popular park which includes the world’s largest bas-relief sculpture that is a memorial to Confederates who fell in battle from 1861-65. In attendance were groups including the NAACP and the Stone Mountain Action Coalition (SMAC) and their “redefining” proposals range from downgrading the appearance the park and even hiding or destroying the memorial carving.
The big problem the critics have, though, is that Georgia law ensures that the faces on Stone Mountain can never be removed, altered, concealed, or obscured. OCGA 50-3-1(c) clearly says Stone Mountain “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.”
Georgia media gave extensive coverage to the critics at the meeting who view the mountain as symbolic of racism, but little regarding supporters of the memorial. For “the other side of the story,” we reprint remarks from a spokesman for the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans who opposes changes to the park, which is perhaps Georgia’s most popular tourist attraction. Martin O’Toole said:
“The SMACsters in their presentation denied that they desired to destroy that carving by demolition. Apparently, that was bad optics. Instead, this kinder and gentler Taliban and ISIS sought to achieve the same ends by neglect or even use of concrete to cover the sculpture. All other Confederate memorialization was to be done away with.
“The loathing of all things Confederate is of rather recent origin. The Confederacy’s acceptance of the continued lawfulness of slavery has always made it sort of the soft underbelly of American history. But in the past year the full hatred of all things American and even pre-American has been fully exposed. While, to the best of my knowledge, the Viking exploration of America had been ignored to date, everything else traditional about America since the arrival of Columbus had been repudiated by our social justice warriors. They are not content with merely the extirpation of the Confederacy but almost all American history does not meet their approval– and to judge by the vandalization and demands almost nothing does …
“One alternative means of cancellation has been the proposals to ‘contextualize’ any monuments or memorials that they cannot actually destroy. The French philosopher La Rochefoucauld observed that hypocrisy was the tribute that vice paid to virtue. Such is graphically demonstrated by the demands for contextualization and interpretative plaques or displays made commonly today.
“What is the purpose of monuments and memorials?
“In his oration on the Athenian dead, Pericles made the observation that some, motivated by spite and envy, refused to believe the feats of the soldiers who gave their all. Valor, fortitude and sacrifice should be examples for us all.
“Prior to the remodeling of American thought of late the entire nation used to admire the Southern soldiers and their courage, fidelity, sacrifice and struggle against incredible odds. The Confederacy was thought to be a part of the common legacy of the entire nation. Union and Confederate veterans were largely reconciled after the War. But those who did not face the gray on the battlefield refuse to accept the judgment of those who did and direct their attacks 0n inert marble or granite.
“This admiration was not limited to Americans only but appear in almost every culture and nation. A friend who used to work for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce related that, in particular, the Japanese businessmen who came to Atlanta to investigate business possibilities generally wanted to see Tara and sample the Old South.
“Just as we are all defective, so many are capable of greatness. That is what monuments and memorials should be about. They are not to tell us how bad humans can be but rather to encourage us to emulate virtues that others have shown. That, not “micro-aggressions” or contextualizing assaults are what monuments are about. And such is what the Georgia General Assembly has mandated in O.C.G.A. § 12-3-192.1. That is what has been done and should be continued to be done at the Stone Mountain Memorial Park.
“When I go to the King Center, I do not expect to see King’s dirty laundry washed in public. Neither should we expect a Confederate Memorial to be an assault on the Confederacy. If those who demand such are not hypocrites then show us the way by first “contextualizing” the King Center, the Kennedy libraries or the LBJ Ranch first. Otherwise we can only conclude you do not “seek truth” but merely use “contextualization” to assault a tradition you despise.
“The appropriate role of a Memorial is to uplift and challenge us to be more than we are.
“The Stone Mountain Memorial Park has been success. Millions visit every year.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
