A crowd gathered at a city park in Decatur, Georgia, to witness the unveiling of a large bronze statue honoring the late civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis. The 12-foot-tall statue was revealed in the same spot where a contentious Confederate monument once stood before being dismantled four years ago.
John Lewis, a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement and a Democratic congressman from Georgia, passed away in 2020 due to pancreatic cancer. The unveiling of his statue was met with applause from the crowd, which included neighbors, politicians, and civil rights leaders.
The new statue now occupies the location previously held by an obelisk erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908. Following calls from groups like the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights and Hate Free Decatur, the Confederate monument was removed in 2020.
The removal of Confederate monuments has been a topic of debate and protest across the United States, particularly in the wake of events such as the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Decatur monument had become a focal point for demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice, often being vandalized and marked with graffiti.
In response to concerns about public safety, the city of Decatur sought a court order to remove the Confederate monument. The unveiling of John Lewis' statue symbolizes a shift in the city's landscape, honoring a civil rights icon while removing a symbol of the Confederacy that had sparked controversy and division.
