Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's signature on the bill to define anti-Semitism rings hollow in the face of his unaltering support of the hate speech that defines Georgia's Stone Mountain Park. Hate speech is defined as “public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.”  Georgia’s purchase and development of Stone Mountain to advance the message that the Southern cause was “just” is government hate speech directed towards the descendants of enslaved Africans in direct contradiction to the letter of our Constitution, if not its intent.  Visitors to Stone Mountain Park, including Black Americans, have financed the promotion of white supremacy since the mountain and adjacent property were purchased by the state under segregationist Governor Marvin Griffin.

 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s mention of Stone Mountain in his "I Have a Dream Speech" at the 1963 “March on Washington” documented Georgia's declaration of white supremacy. By branding Confederate leaders as men of valor, Georgia endorsed and endorses Alexander Hamilton Stephens’ declaration in the Cornerstone Speech that “the Negro is not equal to the white man” and that “subordination is his rightful place.” The traitorous United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederates Veterans actively participated in transforming the mountain and park into a somewhat subliminal endorsement of white supremacy. One could conclude that the state has ceded control to these organizations as members of both organizations have dominated the Stone Mountain Authority’s governing board since its inception. These same organizations were instrumental in the successful effort to rename several Atlanta area streets to Memorial Drive, to run from the state capitol to “the dome of the Confederacy,” Stone Mountain.

 

Georgia has condemned anti-Semitism, but any such condemnation is hollow unless and until it recognizes the inherent racism of Stone Mountain Park, the pantheon of racist demagogues that line the walls of the state capitol and the numerous Confederate monuments adjacent to courthouses around the state.  As intended, these statues, carvings, murals & paintings serve to encourage racist policies, practices and legislations. Honorable Americans should refrain from patronizing any paid activity at Stone Mountain Park or any other government-endorsed celebration of the Confederacy and the racist principles on which it lived and died. Such patronage ensures that Georgia’s hate speech is loud and clear.