Thousands of people will visit the Atlanta area during Super Bowl week. In the midst of the festivities, a White nationalist group revealed that they are planning to hold a “pro-White” rally on the day before the Super Bowl.
The group, known as Rock Stone Mountain, failed to receive a permit from the Stone Mountain Memorial Association. However, they still plan to hold the rally, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Along with spewing hate, they are seeking to protect Confederate monuments.
Michael Carothers, a spokesperson for the racist organization, told the AJC that he believed his group was facing discrimination. In 2011, Carothers, 38, was arrested in Columbus, Georgia, for aggravated assault after he pepper sprayed a Black man there. He was sentenced to one year in prison, followed by nine years probation and banished from Columbus, according to Ledger-Enquirer. In 1999, Carothers hurled a racial slur at a group of Black students and threatened three times to kill a 15-year-old Black girl.
But even with a violent past and history of attacking Black people, Carothers and his group want to express what their First Amendment rights. The group even invited President Donald Trump to their rally in Georgia.
“They want to erase our heritage because they want to erase us, so I INVITE YOU to come stand against them with us at Rock Stone Mountain and you can see for yourself who the real bad guys are,” the group wrote in an open letter posted on Facebook.
On Feb. 2, 2019, the Georgia NAACP chapter intends to hold a protest at Atlanta’s Piedmont Park against Confederate statues in the state.
