John Lewis fought against racism his entire life… and he continues to do so from beyond the grave – with a new statue of him replacing a Confederate monument.
The late congressman was immortalized in Decatur Square in suburban Atlanta… within the district, Lewis represented Congress for more than thirty years until he passed away in 2020.
Local leaders unveiled the 10-foot statue of JL on Saturday morning…and they gave it a meaningful location – officially replacing an obelisk commemorating the Confederacy that was erected way back in 1908.
The obelisk hasn’t stood on the pedestal John took since 2020… when Black Lives Matter protests swept the country and countless aging monuments were demolished.
John was a seminal figure in the civil rights movement… protesting alongside people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and marched on Selma in 1965 – where he was brutally beaten by police along with hundreds of other demonstrators.
Lewis became a congressman in 1987 and served at the forefront of the Democratic Party until his death from complications of pancreatic cancer.
He even received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the then president Obama in 2011 … when Obama said generations of Americans would think of Lewis when they thought of courage in the US
It is clear that his legacy continues to have a major impact on civil rights.