'We won't cancel history': Former Georgia KKK meeting spot refuses to destroy huge Confederate hillside carving but concedes to ditching flags at base of mountain
A Georgia park that was once a Ku Klux Klan meeting spot plans to disavow its racist past by ditching Confederate flags - but won't destroy a controversial mountainside sculpture.
Stone Mountain Park, which sits around 15 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta, will remove an image of the controversial carving from its official logo.
The sculpture, which sits on the north side of the park's eponymous Stone Mountain, shows General Robert E. Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and General Thomas J. Jackson. It is the largest Confederate monument ever crafted, and is protected by Georgia state law.
Stone Mountain Memorial Association CEO Bill Stephens presented the proposals to the park's board, including the removal of the carving from its logo, and Confederate flags from the park.
He said Stone Mountain needed to change to remain financially viable but said there were no plans to remove the mountain carving, explaining that he didn't want to 'cancel history.'
The board did not immediately vote on any of the proposals, which also include renaming the park's Venable Lake.
The park is a popular hiking and tourist destination but is replete with Confederate imagery.
The proposals come amid a national reckoning on race that brought down dozens of Confederate monuments in a span of weeks last year.
A massive mountainside carving depicting Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson is shown on Monday in Stone Mountain, Georgia. The Stone Mountain Memorial Association, which oversees the park's design, is considering changes to the park's deeply contentious features honoring the Confederacy- but will not remove the sculpture
The park could also acknowledge that it was a favored meeting spot for the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization. The image above shows supporters of the Klan at Stone Mountain in May 1989
Some speakers at Monday's meeting said the changes before the board didn't go far enough.
Many of the Confederate monuments that are now controversial were erected in the early 1900s by groups composed of women and veterans.
Some honor generals or soldiers; others bear inscriptions that critics say wrongly gloss over slavery as a reason for the war or portray the Confederate cause as noble.
Stone Mountain's carving - which measures 190ft across and 90ft tall - was completed in 1972 and shows the three Confederate leaders mounted on horseback.
Confederate flag supporters climb Stone Mountain to protest what they believe is an attack on their Southern heritage during a rally at Stone Mountain Park in August 2015
The celebration of the Confederacy at the park is used to 'oppress people,' said Bona Allen, with the grassroots group Stone Mountain Action Coalition.
'You, this board, have the responsibility to the citizens of the state of Georgia - all the citizens of Georgia - to do what´s right right now,' he said.
'You have the authority, you have the ability, you have the obligation to remove these symbols without delay.'
The coalition last year proposed that the association remove Confederate flags at the base of the mountain, change the names of streets and other park features with Confederate affiliations and refocus the park around such themes as racial reconciliation and justice.
Meymoona Freeman, a leader of the group, said it wanted to see the carving of Lee, Davis and Jackson transformed into a natural space.
The sculpture has special protection enshrined in Georgia law, and Stephens said it wasn't going anywhere.
Martin O'Toole, an attorney, said the law requires that Stone Mountain serve as a memorial to the Confederacy.
'It's not the purpose to contextualize it,' he said.
'It's not the purpose to talk about the Ku Klux Klan or other things like this.'
The proposals also call for the creation of a new museum exhibit at the park to relate the history of the carving and the consolidation of artifacts and monuments related to the Confederacy in one location.
Tensions between the two rival groups reached a boiling point in Stone Mountain last summer as brawls broke between protesters carrying confederate flags and anti-racism demonstrators
A counter demonstrator holding a placard calling for the removal of the Confederate monument is seen facing off with a member of an opposing group
For the first few hours of the rally, things were relatively peaceful, aside from some shoving and pushing and spirited arguments
Roads and trails would be renamed, though not any that currently have Confederate names.
Stephens said the proposals would not satisfy everybody, but he called them a 'common sense middle ground.'
The park has lost corporate sponsors and revenues are down, he said.
'Economically, we can't stay the way we are,' he said.
'Change is inevitable. We can either take charge of it or we can be defined by it.'
The board could vote on at least some of the proposals next month. Governor Brian Kemp appointed the board's first African American chair - Rev. Abraham Mosley - last week.
Mosley said after the meeting he supported the proposals but wanted to see more changes.
'I think this is a first step to a lot of good things to come hear at the Stone Mountain park. It's just going to take time to get there.'
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