Activists are fighting to remove a prevailing Confederate symbol that has both a historical context and a negative stigma. The feud over Stone Mountain, a Confederate monument in Georgia, has caused one man to unearth one of hip hop’s most heated debates, Speakerboxxx or The Love Below. Mack Williams created a petition to add the members of Outkast among carvings of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to represent his home state’s history and culture.
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As an artist, Williams said he appreciates Stone Mountain as a “work of art,” but feels it “only represents a small, regrettable time in the history of the Peach State.” The mountain’s carving is bigger than a football field and holds the record as the largest relief sculpture in the world. According to the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, it once stood as a symbol of Native American relations during George Washington’s presidency. Now it collects memories of the Civil War with carved images of the Confederate president and his two generals.
Williams and his 8,500 supporters feel that Atlanta and Savannah natives Andre 3000 and Big Boi will benefit the tourist attraction by honoring the duo’s contribution to Georgia. The petition does not call for removal of the Confederate figures. “It’s high time we added a bit more of our history and culture to this monument,” he wrote. “Outkast are two of the greatest Georgians in the history of our state. It’s about time the Empire State of the South paid proper tribute to them.”
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And in the true spirit of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Williams wants Outkast to be riding a Cadillac on the monument. Davis, Lee, and Jackson are all riding horses.
After the petition reaches 10,000 signatures on MoveOn, he will bring it to the attention the Georgia State House, the Georgia State Senate, and Governor Nathan Deal. Supporters are adopting the hashtag #StankMountain on social media. Big Boi already expressed his support of the petition on Twitter with a thumbs up and continued to spread awareness of the #StankMountain movement.