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In Macon, Boxing In A Confederate Statue For Free Expression

Artists boxed in the base of the Confederate statue in Macon, Ga. to create a canvass for expressions of Black pride on #Juneteenth
Grant Blankenship
/
GPB
Artists boxed in the base of the Confederate statue in Macon, Ga. to create a canvass for expressions of Black pride on #Juneteenth

For years, there has been on again, off again conversation in Macon about moving the Confederate statue at the foot of Cotton Avenue. Now is a definitely an on again time, as it is for monuments elsewhere.

Coinciding with the Juneteenth holiday, artists in Macon built a box around the foot of the statue to create a place for creative expression and hopefully spurring positive conversation about what to do about the statue, conversations couched in love rather than hate.

"Hate is not a relationship. I don't have to have a relationship with you in any form to hate you," said organizer and artist Tiara Ponce. "Love takes time. That is a relationship."

"That is the missing conversation," she concluded.

https://youtu.be/tMCKfsSonLo

Copyright 2020 Georgia Public Broadcasting

Grant came to public media after a career spent in newspaper photojournalism. As an all platform journalist he seeks to wed the values of public radio storytelling and the best of photojournalism online.