ATLANTA — The Southern Poverty Law Center Wednesday joined a growing chorus of activist groups calling on the Stone Mountain Memorial Association to cancel a planned Confederal Memorial Day rally scheduled for the park Saturday, citing a legacy of racial hatred and violence connected to such rallies.
“Hate groups have a history of rallying in defense of Confederate monuments,” the Montgomery, Alabama-based watchdog group wrote in an email to supporters and activist groups in Georgia. “Activism aimed at preventing the removal of these monuments has brought together a variety of extremist actors, propelled them into the streets, and created violent confrontations.”
The DeKalb County NAACP and the Stone Mountain Action Coalition previously had issued calls asking the board to reconsider its decision last month to approve a permit application by the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
