NAACP: Use sand, dynamite, whatever — Georgia's Confederate 'Rushmore' has to go
As Confederate symbols come tumbling down across the nation, some are proving trickier to remove than others. Stone Mountain, Georgia, is one such obstacle — its portrayal of Confederate heroes Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson stands 90-by-190 feet tall and is carved into the side of a mountain. The monument's website boasts that the rendering is so big that when it was being carved, workers could hide in the horse's ears or mouths to take shelter from the rain. All told, Stone Mountain's relief is bigger even than Mount Rushmore.
Iframe Code
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In comparison, figuring out what to do with the potentially offensive mountainside makes passing legislation look easy.
"What are you going to do, dynamite Stone Mountain?" asked Sons of Confederate Veterans spokesman and Dukes of Hazard actor Ben Jones.
“Should we blast those images off Stone Mountain? How far do we go?" asked U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson. "Stone Mountain is a Confederate area, [a] heritage area... but it is a public park that all of us go to, and I guess we have to all keep it in perspective."
However, dynamite doesn't sound so bad to the NAACP, who called today for the images to be sand-blasted off... or something.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
“Those guys need to go," the NAACP's Atlanta branch President Richard Rose told WSB. "They can be sand-blasted off, or somebody could carefully remove a slab of that and auction it off to the highest bidder."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
The new powers to stop stalking in the UK
The Explainer Updated guidance could help protect more victims, but public is losing trust in police and battered criminal justice system
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Criminal trail?'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Grindr 'shared user HIV status' with ad firms, lawsuit claims
Speed Read LGBTQ dating app accused of breaching UK data protection laws in case filed at London's High Court
By Rebecca Messina, The Week UK Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published