DECATUR, Ga. — A massive bronze statue of the late iconic civil rights leader and Georgia congressman John Lewis was installed in the town square 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 (3.7-metre) statue into place under the watchful eye of internationally renowned 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 being at the forefront of the civil rights movement and encouraging others to make “good trouble” for causes he considered important and necessary. In DeKalb County, where a Confederate monument has stood for more than a century, protesters have cited “good trouble” to demand the obelisk’s immediate removal.
In 2020, in Decatur, Georgia, a stone obelisk was lifted from its base by straps as bystanders jeered and chanted “Drop it!” while sheriff’s deputies kept a safe distance. The obelisk was erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Groups including the Beacon Hill Black Coalition for Human Rights and Hate Free Decatur have called for the monument’s removal since the deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The memorial was one of many across the country that sparked protests against police brutality and racism following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. The city of Decatur then asked a Georgia judge to order the removal of the memorial, which has been frequently vandalized and covered in graffiti, saying it posed a threat to public safety.
Lewis’ statue is scheduled to be officially unveiled on August 24th.