Why Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. declared "Let Freedom Ring From Stone Mountain,"

When Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. declared: "Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain," he and his audience understood how stories and monuments about the past have power over both present and future realities. In the larger context of his

" I Have a Dream Speech" and the Jobs and Civil Rights March on Washington DC, they also knew the implications of his subversive expression, in that, he was referring to the removal of the Confederate symbols etched in stone on the side of the mountain overlooking
Atlanta, Georgia. Accordingly, and coming on the heels of the removal of the Confederate battle flag over South Carolina 's State House , the NAACP 's Atlanta chapter has again resurrected Dr. King's and the Civil Rights Era's dream. They, too, want to free Stone Mountain from its symbol of white supremacy, its legacy of slavery, and sacred meeting place for the
KKK .
Indeed, Richard Rose , Atlanta's NAACP director, and many like him recognizes only too well how the three leaders portrayed on the largest relief sculpture in the world-Robert E. Lee,
Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis-are symbols of an unjust and bloody cause fought to keep millions of blacks enslaved. But not only does the Confederate tourist trap glorify white supremacy, even celebrating the continued subjugation of blacks, it was and still is a sacred meeting place for the KKK, an all-white violent organization which terrorized and killed thousands of blacks and some white supporters.(1) Consequently, Stone Mountain and America 's past can only be freed when the Confederate granite relief is removed by sandblasting. Until then, many will continue to either glorify or sanitize a Confederate ideology, dismissing its brutal and murderous legacy against blacks.
Obviously , Rose and Atlanta's NAACP chapter face a daunting task in trying to finally free Stone Mountain. To begin with, Stone Mountain has been transformed into an entertainment theme park for its four million annual visitors. Atlanta's NAACP, however, could expose how the corporate world of mass marketing also overlooks past wrongs without ever penetrating deeply held racial ideologies, such as slavery and white supremacy. Tourists could also learn that along with being an altar of the KKK,
Georgia purchased Stone Mountain to oppose the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling. While reminding blacks of slavery and segregation, the state wanted a granite relief venerating the Confederate's ideology of white supremacy.(2) (Just imagine if Germany had a bas relief on the side of a mountain glorifying
Nazi leaders and their ideology.)
After the Civil War , Frederick Douglass , a former slave and prominent Republican, warned that monuments honoring Lee and glorifying unjust causes would "reawaken the Confederacy." He was right. These unmerited monuments still stoke the embers of racism and hatred. (They also encourage racial killings.) Since commemorative monuments point to visible ways a nation affirms its collective values, would it not be more historically accurate and beneficial to eliminate symbols which glorifies white supremacy and boasts of an enduring racial heritage? In other words, why not replace these prejudicial and dehumanizing images with those of freedom and equality, like Abolitionists or even the names of "all" forgotten black slaves who built and contributed to America? Including those who were murdered by the KKK would also help free Stone Mountain's ideology.
Again , monuments play an important role in shaping culture and present-day realities. They provide a sense of accomplishment and identity in the larger context of a nation and its shared heritage. They empower people as well in making more history and being more civically engaged. Douglass was mindful of this when he said "the colored people of this country are bound to keep the past in lively memory till justice shall be done them."(3) Given that the history of how a monument came to exist is as revealing as the monument itself helps explain why there still exists discriminatory institutions, racial rebellions and social unrest. Replacing the Confederate symbol on Stone Mountain with a more accurate history, along with reminders of the Confederate's ideology-white supremacy, legacy of slavery, and KKK-would be major step towards both freedom and racial healing.
Moreover, all across the U.S. there are thousands of these Confederate white supremacist archetypes embedded in the "battlefields of the mind," prompting Americans to respond thoughtlessly and unconsciously about a history filled with racist and dehumanizing beliefs. Should they also be replaced with more liberating and historically accurate and unifying archetypes? Recall once more what Douglass said about how blacks will keep the past in lively memory till justice is done. Justice , therefore, is not only a more equitable society where power is shared, but a more truer and impartial mindset where history is equally shared, too, both past and present. Let freedom and justice finally ring, then, starting with Stone Mountain and continuing with the thousands of other Confederate and white supremacy symbols.