海角大神

Stone Mountain to get new monument: MLK memorial will join Confederate heroes

Georgia state authorities will erect a monument to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Stone Mountain, the site of a Confederate memorial. The announcement reflects tensions over the Confederacy's place taking place across the South.

State authorities鈥� Sunday to erect a monument to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the site of a Confederate memorial on Stone Mountain, Ga., has again underscored rising tensions over the Confederacy鈥檚 role in US history.

The announcement, which faces mixed reactions from locals, is emblematic of an increasingly divisive discourse taking place across the South in the wake of the mass shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., in June. The shooter, a self-professed white supremacist, had published a racist manifesto and unfurled the Confederate battle flag in photos.

Since then, a nationwide debate has raged over symbols of the Confederacy, which some have insisted are a vital part of the country鈥檚 history and others decried as a relic of the South鈥檚 racist past.

As 海角大神鈥檚 Patrik Jonsson wrote:

[T]he history of the Confederacy 鈥� and what it means to the South 鈥� is up for debate as never before from Kentucky to Mississippi.

That Confederate monuments may no longer be sacred 鈥� and could even be unbolted and removed 鈥� suggests rapidly evolving moral and intellectual views of the South's complicated past, historians say. Those insights, unleashed by violence in the same city where the Civil War began, appear to be forcing a national reckoning over the power of rebel symbols, even those once seen as largely innocuous.

In some ways, the new project in Georgia epitomizes the discourse. The Stone Mountain Memorial Association, with Republican Gov. Nathan Deal's approval, plans to build a tower with a replica of the Liberty Bell just beyond the carvings of Confederate heroes Gen. Robert E. Lee, President Jefferson Davis, and Gen. Stonewall Jackson to celebrate Mr. King鈥檚 reference to the site in his famous 鈥淚 Have A Dream鈥� speech: 鈥淟et freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.鈥�

鈥淚t is one of the best-known speeches in US history,鈥� said Bill Stephens, the association鈥檚 CEO, . 鈥淲e think it鈥檚 a great addition to the historical offerings we have here.鈥�

鈥淎 monument like this should bring people together,鈥� one local .

Not everyone agrees.

鈥淭his is an insult to us,鈥� said Tim Pilgrim, head of the Georgia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. 鈥淭his is like the government going down to Auburn Avenue and putting a monument of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson on top of the King monument. How would supporters of Martin Luther King feel about that?鈥�

Similar episodes are playing out across the nation. In Mississippi 鈥� the heart of the Deep South and whose state flag is the only one that incorporates the 鈥渞ebel X鈥澛� 鈥� the debate has divided cities and officials alike.

On Sunday, about 400 people gathered for a rally outside the state capitol in an effort to push the state government to remove the Confederate symbol from the state flag, .

"What was the Civil War fought over?" Mississippi-born rapper David Banner told the wire service. "Be honest. Slavery."

But as state Sen. Melanie Sojourner in June: 鈥淭he flag was no more the 鈥榮ource鈥� of horrible acts against mankind than a gun is the 鈥榮ource鈥� of someone鈥檚 death. The 鈥榮ource鈥� is the hatred and evil that resides in the hearts of some who live and have lived among us.... Simply placing the blame on something that some see as a symbol only perpetuates the problem.鈥�

As contentious as the issue has become, some states have found ways to forge ahead.

In South Carolina, for instance, the Confederate battle flag that had flown over the State House in Columbia for more than half a century was furled for the first time in July 鈥渁mid cheers, even as some Southerners hung their heads, unbelieving that a flag they believe represents solely the valor of Southern soldiers defending their land had come to represent hatred and oppression,鈥� the Monitor reported.

The flag鈥檚 removal to what is set to become a multimillion-dollar shrine at the state鈥檚 鈥渞elic room鈥� in Columbia heralded the beginning of a new era in South Carolina, long burdened by deep racial tensions.

鈥淭his moment is about more than a flag or a vote,鈥� Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin tweeted at the time. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the hope that now, 150 years after the end of the Civil War, we have grown beyond our differences and have begun to grow together.鈥�