A veteran state lawmaker wants colleagues to back erecting a statue of Martin Luther King on the statehouse grounds, possibly in the spot that used to honor white supremacist Tom Watson.
State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta, said it would be appropriate to honor the civil rights icon to fill the void left when the state moved the Tom Watson statue across the street last month.
“It would be symbolic if Mr. Watson, who represents an unfortunate part of Georgia’s past, be replaced with a statue dedicated to Georgia’s present and future,” Brooks wrote in his resolution filed this week.
Even if MLK doesn’t replace Watson, Brooks said, he deserves a Capitol statue.
The state relocated the bronzed Watson, a one-time populist turned white supremacist who vilified blacks, Catholics and Jews, as part of a Capitol renovation project.
The removal drew both cheers and jeers. Groups including Georgia’s Sons of Confederate Veterans urged Gov. Nathan Deal to bring the statue back to the Capitol once workers completed the project. Others including the Anti-Defamation League applauded the move.
Watson, a former state lawmaker, congressman and U.S. senator, was viewed by many as a hero when his statue was dedicated in 1932. He came to prominence in the late 1800s, championing the needs of poor farmers and sharecroppers of all races. That support waned with time. Watson, who owned a weekly newspaper, endorsed taking the vote from African-Americans and launched anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic diatribes in his editorials.
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