On Saturday morning, a 12-foot-tall statue of civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis was unveiled in Decatur, Georgia, commemorating his enduring legacy. The statue stands in Decatur Square, outside the historic courthouse in a district that Lewis represented in Congress from 1987 until his death in 2020 at the age of 80 from pancreatic cancer.
The newly erected statue replaces a Confederate obelisk that had stood since 1908. The obelisk was removed in June 2020 amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd.
Basil Watson, the sculptor behind the statue, expressed the significance of the monument, stating, "It’s exciting to see it going up and exciting for the city because of what he represents and what it’s replacing."
John Lewis played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement, particularly as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He was a prominent figure in numerous protests across the southern United States. One of his most notable moments came in 1965, during the peaceful march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where Lewis and other demonstrators were viciously attacked by police on what became known as "Bloody Sunday." His lifelong dedication to justice earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, awarded by President Barack Obama.
The statue, depicting Lewis with his hands over his heart, is a powerful symbol of his message of love and gratitude. Michael Collins, who served as Lewis’s chief of staff for 21 years, explained the significance of the gesture: "That was a way...of showing love to everybody. And so that’s why this is so fitting of a posture for the congressman, to be saying: ‘Thank you, I love you.’"
The Confederate obelisk that previously occupied the site was a frequent target of vandalism and a source of controversy. It was originally erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group known for memorializing leaders of the Ku Klux Klan. The obelisk bore an inscription honoring Confederate soldiers, which many saw as a glorification of a painful and divisive chapter in American history.
The removal of Confederate symbols has gained momentum in recent years. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 33 Confederate statues were removed across multiple states in 2021 and 2022, reflecting a broader movement to reassess and rectify public memorials associated with racism and oppression. The replacement of the obelisk with a statue of John Lewis marks a significant step in that ongoing effort.
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