May 30 sketch of Ali/Davis statue location in state rotunda, as dictated to author by Don Pratt.
Field notes from a May 30 discussion with Don Pratt at the Capital Building.
“I argue for an Ali statue to sit in the state rotunda.” Pratt, visionary, suggests keeping Lincoln as-is, but placing the Ali statue in the current corner featuring Jefferson Davis.
“You’ll get rid of Davis?” I ask increduously.
“No,” he replies. “We keep Davis but create a new statue for him, crouching, which can be placed at the base of the Ali. It’ll be a symbolic request for forgiveness, act of grace, and show of who has real power.”
“What about the other Cassius Clay?”
“The Lion of Whitehall? The abolitionist publisher muckraker? I say start with Ali. Get a petition going to put him in the state house. Then work on Clay.”
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