Civil rights groups blast plan for King memorial at Confederate display in Georgia
By Rich McKay
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Civil rights groups are outraged by a proposal for black leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to be honored alongside heroes of the pro-slavery Confederacy at Georgia's Stone Mountain Park and raised their objections with the governor on Wednesday.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and local chapters of the NAACP instead want Confederate symbols removed from prominent display at the family-oriented park.
“Under no condition or circumstances are we going to let any memorial to Dr. King be integrated with the Confederacy,” said Charles Steele Jr., president of the national SCLC, founded and led by King.
He said no decision was made at the meeting, but the civil rights groups expect to meet again soon with Georgia Republican Governor Nathan Deal. His office could not be reached for comment.
The groups are concerned about a plan by park officials to honor King with a replica of the Liberty Bell featuring the inscription "Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia," a line from his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. King was later assassinated.
Stone Mountain Park, located on a site considered the birthplace of the modern Ku Klux Klan white supremacist group, features a display known as the "Confederate Mount Rushmore." The 90-foot (27 m) relief sculpture honors Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson - all leaders of the secessionist Southern states during the Civil War of 1861-1865.
"We are not going to be tilted when you try to mix good with evil," said John Evans, president of the DeKalb County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The Confederate flag and related symbols have been removed from many public displays since the June shooting deaths of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. The alleged gunman in the racially motivated attack was photographed posing with the flag.
Yet defenders see it as a sign of southern heritage, not hate. The Georgia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans also opposes a King memorial at Stone Mountain.
"We are not accepting a bell or a monument of any kind associated with Dr. King on Stone Mountain, that’s the bottom line,” Steele said. “All aspects of the Confederacy should be buried in history.”
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta. Additional reporting and writing by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla.; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
