While there were two opposing sides gathered at the foot of the Old Joe monument in downtown Gainesville Saturday morning, the atmosphere for this year's demonstration against the Confederate monument was much different than a similar event a year ago.
This year, demonstrators had changed their stance on the removal of the statue, saying instead they wanted only the inscription honoring the Confederacy removed from the granite monument.
Brad Lathem of Clermont, the Chairman of Socialist Organization of North Georgia (formerly Northeast Georgia DSA), said his group and other socialist groups still believe the monument is racist in nature, but they believe there's a possible compromise.
"It's not like some of the other Confederate monuments that people have protested against," Lathem said. "Old Joe has such history in this town, surviving the tornado [of 1936] and all that, but he's technically not a Confederate statue. He's a Spanish-American War statue who's been modified at the base with an inscription and Confederate flag to make him look Confederate. So our push with these protests will be to let Old Joe stand, but not as a monument to white supremacy and the Confederacy."
Lathem said he's not sure what would replace the inscription if it were to be removed.
"We're not specific about what we would want the inscription changed to or the nature of the new base because we feel that would be a community issue," Lathem said. "We just don't want him to represent the Confederacy or what is really represented by these statues when they were put up, which they were put up to intimidate black Americans as part of a pro-segregationist push."
Fewer than a dozen protesters demonstrated at the Saturday morning rally, some carrying signs and a few taking photos. The permit for the rally called for the reservation of the area from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., but the demonstrators decided they had gotten their message across and left the square just after 12 p.m.
During the brief gathering, some of the demonstrators had verbal exchanges with opponents - exchanges peppered with insults and a few profanities. Other than that, the event was quiet.
Troy Mason, a Gainesville resident for the last five years, stood on the other side of a steel barricade from the demonstrators. He said he supported the right of the group to protest, but he was concerned that the event was organized by socialist groups.
"I'm here because socialism is a failed system and I want to remind these young people that there are more of us [capitalists] than there are of them and we are not going to kowtow to their stupidity," Mason said. "I support their right to protest and I support my right to counter their protest."
While SWAT officers were not present for Saturday's event - as they were for the 2017 protest - there was a significant law enforcement presence on the downtown square. Officers with the Gainesville Police Department, the Hall County Sheriff's Office and the Georgia State Patrol were visible for the duration of the demonstration.
Both the 2017 demonstration and Saturday's protest were held in the aftermath of Unite the Right rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia.
