Petition seeks to add Outkast to controversial Confederate monument
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}April 11, 2014. Andre 3000 of hip hop group Outkast performs during their headlining set on the first day of the 2014 Coachella Music and Arts Festival. (The Associated Press)
The controversial Stone Mountain Confederate monument in Georgia that memorializes Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson may have an addition to it.
The Guardian reports hip-hop fans have started a petition to add the Atlanta rap duo Outkast to the memorial. Mack Williams' rendering shows Big Boi and Andre 3000 riding in a Cadillac next to the three Confederate leaders on horseback.
The petition has garnered more than 7,400 signatures, and its next obstacle should be the Georgia State House.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Williams said he doesn’t want to change history, he wants to add to it.
"I believe it's important to recognize the history and heritage of all Georgians,” the petition states. “However, the carving of Davis, Lee, and Jackson on the side of Stone Mountain only represents a small, regrettable time in the history of the Peach State. It's high time we added a bit more of our history and culture to this monument."
Big Boi endorsed the petition in a tweet Wednesday with a thumbs up.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Stone Mountain is a popular Georgia attraction and is extremely controversial. Part of the Ku Klux Klan was founded there in 1915, while the mountain’s then-owners granted the group the right to hold celebrations there. The carving was not finished until 1970.
Earlier this week, the NAACP called for the removal of the carvings from the front of the mountain.
“It is time for Georgia and other Southern states to end the glorification of slavery and white supremacy paid for and maintained with the taxes of all its citizens,” the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., who serves the district in which the mountain sits, told local radio station V-103 that he is “not so much affected by Stone Mountain Park as I am by the flag flying at an official government building like a state capitol or even the federal Capitol, a position, the seat of government.”
“I view Stone Mountain as more of a museum-type archaeological place of remembrance for those who want to remember back then and they have a right to remember back then and the park is there,” he said.
The push from the NAACP comes on the heels of the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina state house. A June shooting at a black church in Charleston, S.C., that left 9 dead has sparked debates over the Confederate flag's place in the South. The alleged killer, Dylann Roof, was white and posted numerous photos online of himself with the rebel flag.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Outkast are two of the greatest Georgians in the history of our state, the petition read. “It's about time the Empire State of the South paid proper tribute to them, while also improving a great monument and tourist attraction.”