Peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.
Via WSBTV
Both pro and anti-Confederate battle flag activists went head to head at Stone Mountain Park Saturday.
At issue: whether the Confederate flag and the mountain’s carving of Confederate figures of the Civil War should be removed from Stone Mountain Park.
“I’m here to stand up for America,” Confederate flag supporter Mike Mulligan, of Loganville, said.
Mulligan was one of more than 200 people to participate in the flag rally, which at times got heated.
“Everybody is trying to make it about slavery now and it wasn’t,” Mulligan said.
Not everyone agrees.
“I think it negates half about what it represents,” Tyler Leah, of Atlanta, said. “You can say it’s about Southern pride and keeping the South, but it’s also about keeping slavery in it.”
Freya Powell and her family told Channel 2’s Audrey Washington they drove from southwest Atlanta to show support.
“I don’t agree that the flag should come down,” Powell said. “Yes, I’m African-American, but this is history and that’s why we’re supporting it.”