In July 2020, Devon Henry was hired to remove Confederate statues as the US reflects on its past of slavery and racism. Since then, he and his team have removed and relocated 23 Confederate statues across the former Confederate South.
Henry told the New York Times that in the discharge of his duty, he faced many harassments, insults and racial slurs. “It’s very humbling to be the one who fulfils a 131-year prophecy. But that’s not enough. I feel a responsibility to use these deconstructed pieces of our past to construct a better tomorrow,” he said.
Henry is now giving new meaning to the Confederate flag’s 13 stars with the launch of the “13 Stars” NFT Collection to raise $13 million for social causes, according to Black News.
The platform reports that Henry is repurposing the history of Confederate statues into a charitable CryptoFederacy project that highlights 13-star causes and changemakers via “The Thirteen Stars” NFT Collection at CryptoFederacy.com.
“CryptoFederacy’s 13 Stars NFT Collection represents the thirteen stars on the Confederate flag and the first of the thirteen stars dropped on the 157th anniversary of Juneteenth–a Federal U.S. Holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Americans, and marks when the last enslaved people in the U.S. were officially informed they were free– following the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate states in April 1865,” according to Black News.
Henry wants to raise $1 million from 13 different charity causes that address social problems through the sale of these NFTs. According to Henry, the social issues he seeks to address are those that “stem from the ideals and actions reinforced by the Confederate Generals whose statues were removed.”
With this move, Henry is hoping that impassioned individuals and foundations will be part of this “historic reclamation of ideology” by collecting one of the 13 pieces of artwork.
“As the CryptoFederacy NFT community grows, the team has plans to follow the inaugural NFT collection with a 10,000-piece CrazyStats NFT collection – and appeal to an even wider audience,” according to Black News.
