Block the Hate documents a period of intense emotion and activity in our community around the issue of the proper place for confederate monuments.

MACON, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES, January 6, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Tubman Museum has unveiled a new, thought-provoking exhibit entitled ‘Block the Hate.’ The exhibit consists of 4’ x 8’ wood panels that were erected around the confederate monuments in downtown Macon in June 2020. Created by local artists, the panels were put up to protect the monuments from possible damage in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protest, which took place in Macon following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minnesota that year.

“In June and July of 2020 there was a lot of public interest and energy around the idea of moving Macon’s Confederate Monuments out of downtown,” remarks Jeff Bruce, Director of Exhibitions. “This exhibit documents that period of both frustration with the status quo and hope for positive change in our community.”

In addition to the panels, the exhibit features images from local photographers that document the Black Lives Matter protest that took place in Macon in June of 2020. Block the hate is scheduled to remain on exhibit at the Tubman Museum through February 28, 2022.

"I am very excited [about] this history-making exhibition at the Tubman,” notes Executive Director of the Tubman Museum, Harold Young. “Being a part of the March showed the world that the citizens of Macon, Georgia can protest peacefully and respectfully during this horrific period in history."

“By exhibiting these works, we hope to bring back not just memories, but the hope and expectations for positive social change that was a part of that time in our recent history,” says Bruce.

There is no timetable for the relocation of the confederate monuments from downtown to Whittle Park. Due to an ongoing lawsuit, an injunction prevents Macon-Bibb County from taking any actions regarding the confederate monuments until the Martin Bell/Macon Monuments Matter vs. Macon-Bibb County court case is decided.

BLOCK THE HATE: A Timeline

May 25, 2020
George Floyd is killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes while Floyd was handcuffed face down on the ground.

May 26, 2020
17-year-old Darnella Frazier posts the video she recorded of Floyd’s murder on her Facebook page. The video immediately goes viral and is broadcast by local and national news outlets.

Public protests of the killing of George Floyd, and against police brutality towards minorities begin in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

May 29, 2020
Black Lives Matter Marches and Protests take place in Atlanta, Georgia.

June 2, 2020
A Black Lives Matter March and Protest takes place in Macon, Georgia.

June 4, 2020
Laura Bell starts a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to remove the two Confederate Monuments from downtown Macon. The fundraising goal in $8,000.

June 7, 2020
Black Men Unite photo shoot takes place at the Tubman Museum downtown.

June 14, 2020
Black Women Unite photo shoot takes place at the Tubman Museum downtown.

June 15, 2020
Three street signs on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Macon are defaced. The words “This Offends Me” are spray-painted on the courtyard in front of the Tubman Museum downtown.

June 17, 2020
The words “How Offended are You Now” are spray-painted on the base of the confederate monument on Cotton Avenue in downtown Macon.

June 19, 2020
Macon city government puts 4’x 8’ plywood panels up around the confederate monuments to protect them against further vandalism.

Local artists get permission from the mayor and the city to paint murals on the plywood barriers erected around the monuments in Cotton Avenue Plaza and Meridian Park as part of Macon’s celebration of Juneteenth. The Mural Project is called 'Block the Hate.' The original permit allows the murals to remain through June 23rd. The timeline is extended through July 6, 2020.

July 7, 2020
A proposal to remove the confederate monuments from downtown is introduced in the Macon-Bibb County Commission meeting.

July 9, 2020
The Tubman Museum hosts “The Conversation”, a town hall discussion on race and other community issues facing Macon, Georgia.

July 14, 2020
The Block the Hate murals are disassembled and taken to the Tubman Museum for storage.

July 21, 2020
The Macon-Bibb County Commission votes 5-4 to relocate the confederate monuments from downtown to Whittle Park near Rose Hill cemetery. The vote to move the monuments is tied to three Macon Action Plan downtown improvement projects: Cotton Avenue Plaza, the proposed roundabout at the intersection of 1st and Poplar streets, and Rosa Parks Square. The estimated cost of these projects combined is 5 million dollars. No monuments can be moved until 500 thousand of the total amount is identified.

July 23, 2020
The Community Foundation of Central Georgia establishes the HEAL (Harmony Enabled by Appropriate Location) Fund to take donations to support the Macon Action Plan improvements to downtown, which include the relocation of the Confederate Monuments.

July 27, 2020
Martin Bell, the founder of the Macon Monuments Matter organization, files a lawsuit to stop the removal/relocation of the Confederate Monuments from downtown.

August 8, 2020
Laura Bell’s GoFundMe campaign raises $8,124.00. The money is withdrawn and given to the Community Foundation in Central Georgia. The Community Foundation sets aside $140,000.00 for the relocation of the Confederate Monuments.

November 17, 2020
The Macon-Bibb County Commission declines to re-appropriate SPLOST funds from the Central City Commons project to the Cotton Avenue Plaza project, which includes the relocation of the Cotton Avenue monument.

July 17, 2021
The Tubman Museum exhibits the Block the Hate murals along with images that document the June 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Macon.

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