A massive bronze statue of the late iconic civil rights leader and Georgia congressman John Lewis was installed in the town square on Friday in the exact spot where a controversial Confederate monument stood for more than 110 years before being removed in 2020.
Workers slowly maneuvered the 12-foot-tall statue into place under the watchful eye of internationally acclaimed sculptor Basil Watson.
“It’s exciting to see the monument go up and it’s exciting for the city too, what he represents and what he’s replacing,” Watson said as she helped set the monument up.
Lewis was known for his role on the front lines of the civil rights movement, encouraging others to make “good trouble” for causes he considered important and necessary.
In DeKalb County, where the Confederate monument has stood for more than a century, protesters are calling for the obelisk’s swift removal, citing “good trouble.”
In 2020, in Decatur, Georgia, sheriff’s deputies lifted a stone obelisk from its base by straps as bystanders kept a safe distance and yelled, “Drop it!”
The obelisk was erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Groups including the Beacon Hill Human Rights League and Hate Free Decatur have called for the monument’s removal since the deadly incident. A white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, 2017.
The memorial was one of many across the country that have sparked protests against police brutality and racism following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The city of Decatur subsequently asked a Georgia judge to order the monument’s removal, arguing that the monument, which is frequently vandalized and covered in graffiti, poses a threat to public safety.
Lewis’ statue is scheduled to be officially unveiled on August 24th.
