On February 2nd, 2019, the KKK and Neo-Nazis planned a hate rally at Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park.
We stopped them.
Later, a statement released by the umbrella group representing the counter-protesters described the cancellation as a “complete vindication of the broader anti-racist strategy of relentless opposition to white supremacy.” The statement said the counter- protest would continue as planned “but in a spirit of celebration.” “We encourage the whole community to show up and celebrate this victory,” the statement said.
From the FLOWER Power Flyer distributed at the celebration march on February 2nd:
WHY CELEBRATE?
Neo-Nazis and Klansmen attempted to hold a white supremacist rally at Stone Mountain Park on February 2nd, in order to take advantage of Super Bowl publicity. FLOWER, an anti-racist coalition group, was formed in response. Our opposition has been so relentless that the organizers were forced to cancel their rally at the last minute.
WHY CONTINUE TO FIGHT?
Because the racist carving that currently defaces Stone Mountain remains a lightning rod for further white supremacist rallies. Until it is sandblasted off the side of the mountain, the community risks further random invasions. The racist organizers are already planning new challenges and making terroristic threats.
WHAT DO WE WANT?
Long-term: a world free of racism and oppression. Short-term and local: a community Truth and Reconciliation process around Confederate monuments in Georgia. The people living in and around Stone Mountain have never been surveyed as to whether they want the carving or not. Let’s start that process.
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From the Initial Call to Counterprotest:
Why Stone Mountain?
Stone Mountain is the birthplace of the modern KKK and a continued site of historical importance for the Klan. The carvings of Confederate generals on the side of the mountain were commissioned by white supremacists as a testament to the values of the Old South. The Park was purchased by the state of Georgia as a direct affront to the Civil Rights movement. The preservation of the monument (and others like it) is enshrined into Georgia law. This racist legacy lives on, and organized white supremacists, emboldened by the election of Trump, want us to be afraid.
Why us?
In the face of all these horrors, we are not powerless.
Immediately after the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, 40,000 people took the streets to shut down white supremacists in Boston. Across the Southeast, Confederate monuments – once thought untouchable – came crashing down through protest and mass action. In April 2016, anti-racists converged on Stone Mountain to shut down the KKK.
Why now?
Political tensions have grown over the last few years, and white supremacists have been steadily bolsterered by rhetoric from Trump and other political leaders. Anti-immigrant attacks, border militarization, anti-semitism, sexual assault, and the erasure of trans-identity are daily battles. The president has even attacked birthright citizenship: the cornerstone of legal rights for minorities in this country. Pipe bombs are mailed to public figures who criticize Trump. Far-right militias are forming across the nation, and white supremacists are becoming more public and outspoken. Violent attacks against minorities at synogogues and Black churches have escalated since Dylann Roof’s massacre in 2015.
And here in Georgia, thousands of mishandled votes this November showed us that politics alone cannot stop the violence. If we want to change this reality, we must organize.
These are the groups who endorsed our event on Feb. 2nd, 2019. They include faith groups, farms, labor unions, civil rights organizations, anarchists, socialists and many others.
ALL OUT ATLANTA • AMERICAN S.H.A.R.P. • ANTIFA INTERNATIONAL • ANTIFA SEVEN HILLS (VA) • ATLANTA ABOLITION • ATLANTA ANTIFASCISTS • ATLANTA BLACK CROSS • ATLANTA FOOD NOT BOMBS • ATLANTA GENERAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE • ATLANTA INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD • ATLANTA RESISTANCE MEDICS • ATLANTA SOLIDARITY FUND • ATLANTA WHITE ROSE SOCIETY ANTI-FASCISTS • ATLANTA ULTRAS • ASHEVILLE ANTI-RACISM (NC) • A WORLD WITHOUT POLICE • COUNTERPOINT HACKERSPACE • DE-CONFEDERATE AUSTIN (TX) • ECOSYSTEM FARM • FEED THE PEOPLE FARMS • FIRST EXISTENTIALIST CONGREGATION • FOOD NOT BOMBS TAMPA (FL) • GAINESVILLE REDNECK REVOLT (FL) • GAME WORKERS UNITE ATLANTA • GRANDMOTHERS FOR PEACE (ATLANTA) • HOLLER NETWORK • INCARCERATED WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE – ATLANTA CHAPTER • JACKSONVILLE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA (FL) • JEWISH ANTIFASCIST COALITION OF THE TRIANGLE (NC) • LEXINGTON ANTI-RACIST ACTION (KY) • LOVE HAS NO BORDERS (FL) • METRO ATLANTA DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA • MISSISSIPPI RISING COALITION • NEW ORLEANS JOHN BROWN GUN CLUB (LA) • NORTH GEORGIA SOCIALIST RIFLE ASSOCIATION • OCCUPY ICE TPA (FL) • ON OUR OWN AUTHORITY! PUBLISHING • ONE PEOPLE’S PROJECT • OUR REVOLUTION DEKALB • PROGRESSIVE STUDENT ALLIANCE AT GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY • RALEIGH-DURHAM GENERAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE (NC) • RALEIGH- DURHAM INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD (NC) • REFUSE FASCISM ATLANTA • REVOLUTIONARY ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT NYC (NY) • SANKT PAULI ATLANTA • SOCIALIST COALITION OF NORTH GEORGIA • SOUTHERN COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD • SPRINGFIELD JOHN BROWN GUN CLUB (MO) • STREET GROOMERS • SWAMPLANDIA REDNECK REVOLT • TAMPA ANARCHIST BLACK CROSS (FL) • THE ATLANTA STRAIGHT EDGE • THE FINAL STRAW RADIO SHOW • TIDEWATER INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD (VA) • YOUNG DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA AT GEORGIA TECH • WORKERS SOLIDARITY ALLIANCE – ATLANTA