Governor appoints new chairman of Stone Mountain Memorial Association
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - Georgia's governor has appointed an African American man to lead the board of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association.
The board determines how the park, which is home to the world’s largest Confederate monument, will move in the future.
"One of my mentors, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘I don’t want to look at it as a Black chairman. I am a chairman,’" Reverend Abraham Mosley said.
It’s more than just being the first African American Chairman of the Stone Mountain Memorial Associations Board of Directors.
It’s a chance to be a part of something he loves.
"Stone Mountain would always be a spot where I would go with my children," Mosley said.
Governor Brian Kemp recently appointed Reverend Abraham Mosley to the position just a few years after first appointing him to the board.
"I’m honored and have a lot of pride but I also have a lot of humility involved in it," Mosley said.
Mosley is the pastor of a church in Athens.
This appointment comes at a time where many are calling for the removal of many Confederate and Civil War monuments.
In addition to the mountainside carvings of Southern leaders, the park is home to streets, buildings, flags, and many other smaller attractions that pay tribute to the Confederacy.
The mountain was also the birthplace of the second Ku Klux Klan.
"It’s a matter of us sitting down and reasoning together. Those negative stigmas we are going to have to chip on them one at a time," Mosley said.
Mosley wouldn’t go in-depth with his plans for the park but promises changes.
"You are going to see a difference in Stone Mountain in making it friendly and more inviting not just for certain people but for everybody," Mosley said.
Mosley hopes his appointment is a step in the right direction.
"We are all different and I see this as the progress of coming together as brothers and sisters," Mosley said.
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