Atlanta ( CNN ) -- A North Georgia chapter of the Ku Klux Klan has applied to `` adopt '' a stretch of highway in Union County , Georgia , according to paperwork obtained by CNN on Monday . The application , which would allow the white supremacy group to receive state recognition for cleaning up a one-mile portion of a highway , was filed by the International Keystone Knights of the KKK on May 21 . If the Georgia Department of Transportation accepts the application , the KKK would be responsible for cleaning litter on a part of Georgia State Route 515 in the Appalachian Mountains near the North Carolina border . `` All we want to do is adopt a highway , '' said April Chambers , the chapter 's secretary . `` We 're not doing it for publicity . We 're doing it to keep the mountains beautiful . People throwing trash out on the side of the road ... that ai n't right . '' Jill Goldberg , a Georgia DOT spokeswoman , confirmed the application but said , `` the department is deferring comment beyond that , however , until a resolution is determined . '' Reader feels dirty for agreeing with KKK . DOT officials will discuss the matter Monday with representatives from the state attorney general 's office , she said . Chambers told CNN she did n't know anything about that meeting but said the group is supposed to meet with the DOT at some point . State Rep. Tyrone Brooks , D-Atlanta , has been working against the group 's adoption application , she said . `` We 're not racists , '' Chambers said Monday . `` We just want to be with white people . If that 's a crime , then I do n't know . It 's all right to be black and Latino and proud , but you ca n't be white and proud . I do n't understand it . '' A similar request in Missouri set off a legal battle that stretched for years and went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court . A Ku Klux Klan chapter sought to adopt a portion of Interstate 55 . A federal appeals court ruled the state could not bar the KKK from participating in the program , and the high court declined to review the case , letting that ruling stand . However , the Missouri Department of Transportation eventually kicked the KKK out of the program because members were not picking up trash as agreed , spokesman Bob Brendel said Monday . The state also named the stretch of I-55 after civil rights activist Rosa Parks , according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . Georgia has been participating in the Adopt-A-Highway program for more than 20 years . The program provides advertising for sponsors who agree to clean a stretch of road on a sign posted along the stretch . `` Any civic-minded organization , business , individual , family , city , county , state , or federal agency is welcome to volunteer in the Georgia Adopt-A-Highway program , '' the DOT website says . There is no charge to sponsors , Goldberg said . `` We provide the safety vest and materials to collect the trash . We provide what 's needed to do the program ... their contribution is the labor . '' Chambers said the group is more than 100 strong . `` We have a lot of support , '' she said . `` I do n't see why we ca n't ( adopt the stretch of highway ) , '' she said . `` Would it be any different if it was the Black Panthers or something ? Someone always has some kind of race card . '' On its website , the International Keystone Knights of the KKK says it is `` fed up with the Federal tyranny and oppression of Reconstruction , and the time was ripe for Clandestine Armed Resistance . '' The Southern Poverty Law Center , which monitors hate groups , lists the KKK as `` the most infamous -- and oldest -- of American hate groups . '' `` Over the years since it was formed in December 1865 , the Klan has typically seen itself as a Christian organization , although in modern times Klan groups are motivated by a variety of theological and political ideologies , '' the law center 's website says . `` We 're not a hate group , '' Chambers insisted Monday . `` We do n't hate anybody . We 're just white people that want to stick with white people . The NAACP ( National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ) wants to stick with black people . Just because I 'm white , I ca n't stick with my own group ? '' CNN 's Bill Mears and Ashley Hayes contributed to this report .
`` We 're doing it to keep the mountains beautiful , '' KKK group official says . The group has applied to KKK . State officials are scheduled to discuss the matter May 21 . If approved , the Ku Klux Klan would clean part of KKK .