It’s solid granite, isn’t it?
Howitzers. M-1 tanks. Auction off shots. I’m in.
Probably about 15 years ago, my (british) ex and I had an extra day in Atlanta and he insisted that this northern woman go see Stone Mountain. I thought sure, let’s go see this geology wonder. I didn’t know about the carving or about the “entertainment” involved. I was appalled and sitting at the top of the mountain, I started to cry.
He couldn’t understand my upset and he talked about not hiding historical events. And I said, but they are using it for entertainment, not education. And they are so fucking proud of it! He had no answer and so we left.
agreed. Let the Army use it for target practice.
The just need to add to it. Like a giant Calvin peeing on it.
This I would enjoy paying money to see! Great idea!
Brilliant!
Maybe with a carved pair of jacked-up pickup trucks, one Ford, one Chevy receiving the stream.
Interesting opinion piece on Stone Mountain today by Nicole Hemmer
I happen to live in the same county, but fortunately far enough away that I don’t have to see the ugly thing (and it is ugly as hell) very often. It’s not art. It’s not even confederate history, as nothing significant took place here during the war. It’s a celebration of the klan, by the klan, for the klan. You might as well hang a noose from a tree and call it art.
While I might be an atheist, I’d be perfectly fine with blasting the ugly sculpture off the face and replacing it with the words:
Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
Perhaps toss in a nice silhouette of MLK just to really wake up the klan. Maybe the corpse of the evil wench Caroline Helen Jemison Plane would roll over in her grave (I don’t really support pissing on graves, but if you feel the desire, it can be found here). Racist Governor Marvin Griffin can fuck right off as well for getting the job finished.
It’s not just the carving. All the roads around the park are named for Confederate generals. Changing those names is the least they could do. And the mountain wasn’t just a gathering site for the modern Klan; it’s where the modern Klan was founded. The Venable family, who owned the site, provided the Klan’s first Imperial Wizard, or whatever stupid title they use.
I heard a interview with Rev. Mosley, the new chairman of the Memorial Association. He said destroying the carving wasn’t an option, and I think he’s right - the money it would cost could be better spent by the state elsewhere. Not to mention the environmental impact of dynamiting several thousand tons of granite.
There’s another argument against destroying the carving, and it’s a bit ironic: the park is a revenue source for the surrounding city of Stone Mountain. Which is predominately African-American. Five of the six city council members are black, including the mayor pro tem.
Now, what I wish the Stone Mountain Memorial Association would do is adopt the idea of state Sen. Emanuel Jones: erect a liberty bell tower memorializing Dr. Martin Luther King, at the top of the mountain. Big enough to be seen towering above the carving.
Aside from the Confederate flags and street names, the park is a gem. Plenty of African-Americans use it every weekend already; lose the treason flags, rename the streets after civil rights leaders, or perhaps black military heroes, and downplay the carving, and the park would be much more welcoming to all its visitors.
ETA: It’s actually the largest single block of exposed granite in the world. The carving is indeed nothing special, but the mountain itself, and the surrounding park, are quite lovely.
I don’t live close enough to go there very often. It’s a nice hike around the base of the rock, but this is the foot of the Appalachians, and there are many, many great hikes around here that don’t charge park entry fees like at Stone Mountain.
I live closer to Sawnee Mountain, and it’s free. At the bottom, where the zip lines are, are fenced off, played out gold mines; and a big bronze statue of Chief Sawnee himself. He’s welcomed the white settlers, taught them to mine gold and find medicinal herbs and hunt game. They sent him off on the Trail of Tears. Good old Chief Sawnee.
When I drove up to Sawnee Mountain I’d pass an old tree that had one long limb that was exactly perpendicular to the ground ten feet below. The people of Forsyth County hanged a Black man from it years ago, and then all the Black people had fled the county.
Lots of strip malls and Chipotle’s and Amacos here, mazes of subdivisions with McMansions or two-story clapboard apartments. Your basic American comfy and dumb. But if you care to see as well, plenty that’s mighty fucking Faulknerian.