DECATUR, Ga. — A crowd gathered in a Georgia city park to witness the unveiling of a large bronze statue of the late civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis. The statue stands on the same site as a controversial Confederate monument that was dismantled four years ago.
The crowd, which included neighbors, politicians and civil rights leaders, applauded as a black veil was pulled down and the 12-foot-tall statue of Lewis was unveiled on Decatur’s historic square on Saturday.
U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (F-Ga.) spoke to the hundreds of people gathered for the official unveiling of the statue.
“We are tearing down a monument to the Confederacy in our complicated American history,” he said. “We are erecting a living tribute to the beloved community.”
Known for his role at the forefront of the civil rights movement, Lewis was a Democratic congressman from Georgia. He died of pancreatic cancer in 2020.
Lewis’ statue stands on the same site as an obelisk erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908 and removed in 2020.
Groups such as the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights and Hate Free Decatur had been pushing for the removal of the Confederate monument since the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
The memorial was among those across the country that became flashpoints for protests against police brutality and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. The city of Decatur then asked a Georgia judge to order the removal of the memorial, which has often been vandalized and defaced with graffiti, saying it had become a threat to public safety.
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