KKK Denied Permit To Burn Cross On Stone Mountain: Report

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA -- The Ku Klux Klan has been denied a permit to burn a cross on Stone Mountain, according to news reports. The action from Stone Mountain Memorial Association comes amid heightened tensions over Confederatism, the symbols and imagery of the Old South.

The permit was applied for by Joey Hobbs, a Dublin man associated the Sacred Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The proposed “lighting” ceremony was set for Oct. 21 and would consist of 20 people, the AJC reports, citing the application.

“We will light our cross and 20 minutes later we will be gone,” the application, reportedly dated May 26, said. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

The Stone Mountain Memorial Association said in a statement that it “condemns the beliefs and actions of the Ku Klux Klan and believes the denial of this Public Assembly request is in the best interest of all parties," according to The Guardian newspaper.

Association spokesman John Bankhead told local media that the permitting process at Stone Mountain has only been in effect a few years and that if it weren't for the cross-burning, the Klan's application likely would have been approved.

"We don't want them here," Bankhead told WXIA. "But we do understand their right to free speech."

Hobbs said "in light of what happened over the weekend, I understand them not wanting violence. That's not something we want, either," the TV station reported.

The violent clashes in Charlottesville, Va., which left one person dead and injured several more, have soured much of America on Confederatism as several movements are underway in cities across the nation to tear down monuments that commemorate icons, men and symbols of those defeated in the Civil War.

Here in Atlanta, Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams has called for the Confederate carving on Stone Mountain, the largest natural feature in the state, to be removed. The gigantic carvings -- the largest bas-relief sculpture on Earth -- of Gens. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Confederacy President Jefferson Davis greet visitors to Stone Mountain, the largest piece of exposed granite on the planet.

Abrams, a Democrat and candidate in the state's next gubernatorial election, said that, like Charlottesville, the time has come for Georgia to deal with its past. "The image carved into Stone Mountain, like Confederate monuments across this state, stand as constant reminders of racism, intolerance and division."

While many objective historians say that the monument serves as a reminder of Georgia's glorious past -- whether right or wrong -- critics point out that glorifying the losers in a war with the Union is craftily divisive in the best light and akin to treason in the worse.

Stone Mountain, now known to Atlantans and visitors alike as a beautiful park surrounded by trails, an expansive lake and the site of laser shows, still rubs many people the wrong way with its towering tribute to the three central figures of Southern majesty.

The demise of the carving, which took decades to build, would be the coup de grace of Confederate revisionist history, many say, and the final nail in the coffin to the question of whether the South will ever rise again.

"And while the current managers have worked hard to place Stone Mountain into historical context with an audio tour that reminds visitors of the scourge of slavery, the visible relief is a blight on Georgia and should be removed," Abrams said in a post on Medium.

"It is the time for truth and reconciliation. Now is the time to hold our leadership accountable, to take to the streets, to march, to protest," she said.

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The KKK emerged in the shadows of the Civil War as a clandestine group of marauders that executed lawlessness, mob justice and intimidation to former slaves and others who were in opposition to their world view. As the movement died down over the decades of Reconstruction, its racist ideology was resurrected in 1915 atop Stone Mountain among a group of men led by a Methodist preacher and avowed white supremacist.

"We have been fighting these battles for too long," Abrams said.

Image via stonemountaincity.org