On April 23, 2016, the natural serenity of Stone Mountain Park was rudely disrupted by a racially charged confrontation between white supremacists and counterprotesters. Unbeknownst to those who gathered in the park that sunlit spring afternoon, Russian operatives were leveraging the divisive history of Stone Mountain to foment controversy and dissention.
According to self-proclaimed Lost Cause adherents, the event was organized to “protest efforts to erase the white race.” Two dozen pro-white protesters were met with vehement opposition from scores of “All Out Atlanta” members. Both groups received authorization to protest between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Threats and profanities were hurled, pushing and shoving ensued, rocks and bottles were thrown. Nine counterprotesters were arrested. The rapidly escalating melee teetered on the edge of chaos. Frustrated and fearful officials abruptly closed major attractions at Georgia’s most popular tourist destination.
Thanks to a heavily armed, multi-agency contingent of law enforcement and public safety officials, no serious injuries were reported.
It would take almost two years after the protest to learn Russian agents affiliated with the notorious Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-backed troll farm, had fanned the flames of conflict in the days before the Stone Mountain protests. The Daily Beast reported that Russian agents stoked the “brewing animosity and amplified the event on several of the Tumblr pages it was operating at the time.”
The agency used YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to pose as Americans and post incendiary and divisive messages, victimizing unwitting online users, on both sides of the political divide, by spreading disinformation and misinformation.
News coverage of the Stone Mountain protests on RT, a Russian international propaganda network, looped video of the park disturbance and its aftermath. Gleeful news anchors blamed the mostly African-American counterprotesters for precipitating the violence.
The covert campaign to influence the behavior of the Stone Mountain protesters is a chilling example of how internet operatives could undermine racial and political discourse in the United States. The constitutionally protected right of Americans to peacefully assemble and engage in free speech was abridged by picking the scab of our long-festering racial divisions.
The park’s picturesque landscape and white-supremacist legacy provided the perfect cover for this sneak attack on American democracy.
During the Civil Rights Movement, white civic leaders often decried the presence of “outside agitators” like Hosea Williams, Andrew Young and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in their communities. Two years ago at Stone Mountain, “outside internet agitators” stealthily assaulted the citizenship rights of Americans from 5,000 miles away in St. Petersburg, Russia. Using Facebook and Twitter, internet trolls weaponized our troubled racial history and ignited smoldering embers of white resentment and black anger.
Longstanding adversaries unearthed a major political and economic vulnerability in our midst – Stone Mountain’s racially divisive past. To be fair, the Russians did not pioneer race-baiting politics because political demagogues of all stripes have deployed the tactic for decades. However, the cyber-meddling that occurred throughout 2016 has significantly increased the risks and raised the stakes. We must act to protect ourselves from future attacks on our election system and the right and privilege to engage in civil discourse.
There is a growing consensus among Georgia’s political leaders – Democratic, Republican and independent – that a more inclusive, contextualized history of Stone Mountain is needed. As Americans, Southerners and Georgians we must reaffirm our commitment to an American history that is inclusive and respectful of all citizens who pledge allegiance to the Stars and Stripes.
We must be cognizant of our unique vulnerability to racially divisive appeals wrapped in the veneer of history and heritage. Our heritage is an enduring strength that informs who we are and how we came to be. When our heritage becomes disconnected from objectivity and respect for others it quickly mutates into a glaring weakness.
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