Stone Mountain State Park officials said the Black militia group was peaceful, orderly and escorted by police as they called for the removal of the country's largest Confederate monument near Atlanta.
Videos posted to social media show the group, the "Not F**king Around Coalition" (NFAC), meeting at the massive nine-story quartz sculpting that depicts former Confederate president Jefferson Davis and Southern generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
NFAC Founder Grand Master Jay told Newsweek via phone Sunday that the militia members at Stone Mountain on Saturday were "100 percent Black" and they are not affiliated with Black Lives Matter. "We are a Black militia. We aren't protesters, we aren't demonstrators. We don't come to sing, we don't come to chant. That's not what we do," he said.
The NFAC head explained why several videos show the militia members alongside demonstrators earlier in the day before heading to Stone Mountain. Grand Master Jay told Newsweek the sister of Rayshard Brooks, who was killedoutside an Atlanta Wendy's by police last month, requested the NFAC militia provide her with a security escort to a downtown rally that began at the site of her brother's death.
"Our initial goal was to have a formation of our militia in Stone Mountain to send a message that as long as you're abolishing all these statues across the country, what about this one?" Grand Master Jay said, referencing the massive Confederate carving.
He added that he must commend Stone Mountain police for offering the all-Black militia support as they exercised their constitutional rights on July 4th.
"It was all Black ... there were no brown people, no white people... everyone was Black. I am not a protester, I am the commanding general of my militia, we were swearing in new members," he added, highlighting there was a second militia "show of force" Saturday near Phoenix.
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