And Removing Statute in Georgia Had No Effect on White Supremacy

BET

Tyrone Brooks celebrated it as a victory that had been years in the making, and a highly satisfying one.

After a lengthy campaign, a statue of Tom Watson, a one-time populist who was also a white supremacist and spoke degradingly about African-Americans, was moved from the steps of the Georgia state capitol in Atlanta. And Brooks, a longtime member of the Georgia House of Representatives, led the campaign to remove the statue.

“When you walk around the state capitol here, you don’t see anything other than a tribute to the confederacy and to racist officials,” said Brooks, the president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, in an interview with BET.com.

“We can’t change history, but many of us are concerned about these monuments because there are very few if any African-Americans, Latinos or Native Americans who have monuments or statues built for them,” Brooks said. “That’s why you see many people like me who are saying that we need to diversify. We need to leave a better message for future generations.”

While Brooks and other Black elected officials are cheering the decision to remove the statue of Watson, there is an equally emotional reaction from others, particularly far right groups, who complain that the removal of such statues and renaming of various public buildings represents nothing more than political correctness gone overboard.