By Rich McKay

ATLANTA (Reuters), Hundreds of civil right activists will protest the return to an annual celebration for the Confederacy, at the foot a tall monument to South’s proslavery heroes.

About 200 people are expected to attend the celebration by the state chapter of Sons of Confederate Veterans. It says it honors their forefathers’ sacrifices. Atlanta NAACP hopes to attract more people to the celebration, which they view as a salute of the South’s racist legacy.

This event returns after two years. It takes place at the base of a Bas-Relief sculpture, measuring 90 feet in height, that depicts three Confederate leaders, on horseback, and is carved into Stone Mountain’s granite rock face.

Stone Mountain Memorial Association manages a portion of this sprawling park, about 20 miles north of Atlanta. They cancelled the 2020 and 2021 gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as potential violence at the event.

Stone Mountain is a symbol of white supremacists for a long time. Confederate Army veterans formed the Ku Klux Klan in hate, terrorizing Black people. Their rebirth ceremony was held atop Stone Mountain in 1915.

According to the association, tensions have “began creating a clear danger” in the past years. It said that the event would go ahead this year, but it welcomed peaceful gatherings from “all quarters”.

Martin O’Toole is a Sons of the Confederate Veterans spokesperson. He said that anyone who breaks the peace agreement will be asked for leave. He said, “I don’t worry about violence. At least not on my side.” This is history and honor.

O’Toole was the keynote speaker. He is also the leader of Charles Martel Society. It’s a white nationalist group that’s based out Atlanta.

O’Toole said that the gathering does not focus on race but honors all those who participated in the American Civil War, 1861-1865, on the Confederate side. The Confederate tried to seize control of the Union, to decide its destiny.

O’Toole declared, “The South remembers their dead.” “They were the patriots their age.”

Richard Rose is the president of the NAACP Atlanta Chapter. He stated that he wanted to personally see images of General Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Removed from the mountain: “Stonewall Jackson.”

He stated that he was certain the memorial service glorifies the cause of pro-slavey.

Rose declared, “We need to be there” and take a stand against it. Rose stated, “Silence is consent” and that they celebrate a history of chattel slavery with its horrific violence against humanity.