Putting OutKast on a Confederate Monument [View all]

[struggle4progress]

By Charles Bethea

Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson, astride their horses, occupy nearly two acres of sheer mountainside. One of the largest bas-relief sculptures on earth, the monument took decades to complete, with the help of the K.K.K. and local politicians, and is protected by Georgia law, as “a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.” It’s also the centerpiece of a summer laser show. "I remember going to see the show with my dad, in the nineties, and thinking it was awesome," Mack Williams, a thirty-six-year-old animation director living in Queens, said recently. "Growing up a white kid in Southeast Georgia, I had no idea the carvings could be considered symbols of racism."

A friend introduced Williams to OutKast, the Atlanta rap group, when he was a teen-ager. "ATLiens," released in 1996, remains one of his favorite albums. Williams eventually moved to New York, where, in July of 2015, he read in the news that the N.A.A.C.P.’s Atlanta chapter was calling for the removal of the Stone Mountain carving. "I understood their motivation," Williams said. "But I was, like, Let’s not blow it up. If nothing else—and this is easy to say as a white dude—it’s a monumental engineering and artistic feat, to have this humongous carving on a mountainside. I told a friend, 'Why don’t we just add OutKast to kind of balance it out?' Everyone loves OutKast."

The next morning, Williams created a petition at MoveOn.org. The text reads, in part, "By no means do we wish to erase or destroy the current carving, which, regardless of its context, is an impressive and historic work of art. We simply wish to add new carvings, of Atlanta hip-hop duo OutKast, to the mountainside. There’s plenty of room. I believe that Daddy Fat Sacks and Three Stacks" —two of the rappers’ sobriquets —"should be carved riding in a Cadillac (as is their wont). This will help the new carving blend nicely with the Confederates who are on horseback" ...

... “There’s obviously worthier folks to add to the mountain ... But I think OutKast would piss off the right people." A local reporter saw the petition and interviewed Williams about it. Williams had made a mockup of an image of OutKast, in a Cadillac, beside the generals ...

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/11/putting-outkast-on-a-confederate-monument