Ga. lawmaker: KKK made ‘people straighten up’
State Rep. Tommy Benton is an unapologetic supporter of Georgia’s Confederate heritage.
He flatly asserts the Civil War wasn’t fought over slavery, compares Confederate leaders to the Founding Fathers and is profoundly irritated with what he deems a “cultural cleansing” of Southern history. He also said the Ku Klux Klan, while he didn’t agree with all of their methods, “made a lot of people straighten up.” (Read the AJC’s latest coverage here.)
Benton’s views are why for years he has pushed legislation that would protect the state’s historical monuments from being marred or moved. This year he is stepping up his efforts with two newly introduced measures, one of which seeks to amend the state constitution to permanently protect the carving of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson at Stone Mountain.
House Resolution 1179, which Benton, R-Jefferson, dropped in the House “hopper” Wednesday, assures that the “heroes of the Confederate States of America … shall never been altered, removed, concealed or obscured in any fashion and shall be preserved and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.”
It also requires the park around the mountain to be kept as “an appropriate and suitable memorial for the Confederacy.”
If passed, the resolution would go to voters as a statewide referendum before it could be added to the constitution.
Benton also is behind a second bill, House Bill 855, requiring the state to formally recognize Lee’s birthday on Jan. 19 and Confederate Memorial Day on April 26. State employees have long received these as paid vacation days, but this year Gov. Nathan Deal had them listed on state calendars as generic holidays.
Benton said his bills are a direct response to Senate Bill 294, which would forbid the state from formally recognizing holidays in honor of the Confederacy or its leaders. Benton described the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Vincent Fort, as “a fanatic” and the bill’s intent as “cultural terrorism.”
“That’s no better than what ISIS is doing, destroying museums and monuments,” he said in an exclusive interview this week with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I feel very strongly about this. I think it has gone far enough. There is some idea out there that certain parts of history out there don’t matter anymore and that’s a bunch of bunk.”
http://investigations.blog.ajc.com/2016/01/28/ga-lawmaker-seeks-constitutional-protection-for-stone-mountain-carving/
= new reply since forum marked as read
ad nauseum. Nice company you keep there, Mr State Representative.
