“Atlanta has long been considered a black Mecca,” the summary of the latest INDECLINE press release opines, “And yet it only takes a quick drive out into the country to be standing at ground zero of the “Lost Cause” narrative.”

Today we have the clever retort of the anonymous art interventionists with an ax to grind – targeted, they say at those who would like to continue the racist systems that have allowed perfectly average folks to feel superior for decades, centuries. INDECLINE says they went undercover to gain the confidence of a Civil War memorabilia store owner to surprise the neighborhood with this mélange of smurfs and clever wordplay on the side of his store.

The action, entitled “Respect Existence or Expect Resistance”, was pulled off in Kennesaw, GA, where the George Floyd protests last summer brought many rough conversations to the fore – including some just outside that store. In the heated and somewhat meandering statement put out by INDECLINE that accompanies these photos, they end with “The smartest thing the Confederates ever did was keep us fighting a war of rhetoric after they lost with cannons.”

If only that war ended.

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