Congratulations to my friend Joeff Davis for doing something very real to make Georgia into a better place! Last fall, Joeff enlisted me to play Don Quixote with him. He wanted the state of Georgia to remove the statue of racist, anti-Semitic demagogue Thomas Watson from its prominent spot in front of the Capitols main steps. I helped a little bit with writing, messaging and social media. But I moved on to other things — thinking basically that this was a nice idea but wasnt going to happen given the political leadership in our fine state. But Joeff kept at it. He said he didnt want to have to explain to his daughter why they were raising her in a state that lionized a sick man who spewed hatred and lauded lynchers. He was undaunted. Then, without fanfare, on Oct. 4, Gov. Deal signed an executive order allowing the statue to be moved to the fenced-in park across the street, ostensibly for a renovation project. And on Friday, a Building Authority told Joeff the statue wont be returned to its old location ... supposedly because it would cost too much. Call me a cynic, but I have a feeling that hundreds of petition signatures organized by Joeff and the threat of a bad publicity had something to do with this. In other words, Joeff, ignore the cover story: You did it ... youve taken a big step toward getting that blemish removed from the peoples front lawn! Now lets make sure they follow through. clatl/freshloaf/archives/2013/10/18/gold-domes-thomas-watson-statue-to-be-permanently-relocated
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 13:55:48 +0000