At Times We Need Uncomfortable Truths

Continued from page 17

Stone Mountain had been an Indian burial ground, and later a productive granite quarry, as well as a local tourist attraction. But following the state’s purchase of the mountain and surrounding land in 1955, the intention was to make a bold, national statement, spelled out in old news footage in the documentary of then Georgia governor Marvin Griffin. Stone Mountain would make for an attention-getting and permanent canvas, with the finished carving larger than Mount Rushmore and begun by the same sculptor.

And without hushed tones or whispers, the Monument documentary brings forth footage of Klan rallies atop Stone Mountain, as well as words later enshrined in law and made in political stump speeches, making more than uncomfortably clear that although the original motivations for constructing the edifice might have been less than a pure memorial to those who died fighting for the Confederacy, there was a then present tense secondary message as well.

The Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA) has been making a small but steady number of additions to the park, with a planned “truth-telling” exhibit of its own planned for Memorial Hall and overlooking that same carving. Much as Maynard Jackson had hoped, school children are expected to flock there, this time receiving a healthy dose of honesty and hard truths that will hopefully foster dialogues in the classroom, back home, and still later in communities across Georgia and the South. I am glad that the Atlanta History Center has started us down this path, and I know that the SMMA will only take that mission further in the years ahead. And that’s a truth, as a proud Southerner, that I hope we can all learn to become proud of together.

Bill Crane owns the full-service communications firm, CSI Crane. More information at www.CSICrane.com