On Friday, a massive bronze statue of the late Georgia congressman and icon of the civil rights movement John Lewis was placed where a controversial monument honoring the Confederacy had stood for more than a century in the town square before it was taken down in 2020.
With painstaking attention, work workers set the 12-foot-tall (3.7-meter-tall) monument in its proper position, while globally renowned artist Basil Watson observed.
As he helped with the installation, Watson remarked, “The excitement for the city stems from what he stands for and what it is replacing, so it’s great to watch it rise.”
Lewis was well-known for his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement’s front lines and for encouraging others to “get in good trouble” for causes he believed were important and necessary. Protesters in DeKalb County, where the Confederate monument has stood for almost a century, have called for the obelisk to be removed immediately, citing “good trouble.”
When the stone obelisk was raised with straps from its foundation in 2020, spectators in Decatur, Georgia, yelled, “Just drop it!” while sheriff’s deputies stayed a safe distance away. The United Daughters of the Confederacy built the obelisk in 1908.
Since the tragic 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, white nationalist rally, organizations like Hate Free Decatur and the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights have been advocating for the monument’s removal.
After George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, several monuments across the nation became focal places for demonstrations against racial injustice and police brutality. Then, claiming that the monument posed a threat to public safety due to frequent vandalism and graffiti, the city of Decatur petitioned a Georgia judge to order its removal.
On August 24, the statue of Lewis will be formally unveiled.