Last month I was privileged to visit the Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama with my team. It is a powerful memorial to the thousands of victims of lynching in America, telling a part of our history that we need to reckon with as a country. I highly recommend it.
In one area of the memorial, the markers for every verified lynching in every county in the United States are laid in a memorial garden. As I walked through looking for counties that I lived and worked in Missouri, I came upon a memorial to the county of my birth, St Louis County, Minnesota.
Stunned, I realized the ground of lynching extended to the very ground in I was born and grew up on. This story is part of my story.
I later read about Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie who were lynched in Duluth in 1920. May the Lord have mercy on us and may we participate this day in the coming of his kingdom that is marked by justice and righteousness.