We Must Posthumously Indict Everyone Who Participated In A Lynching.
This past year, I have made the somber journey to bear witness to lynchings and other undertakings of racial terror in America (including visiting the site where the photo used in this story took place: I Came To Bear Witness To A Lynching. Part 1: Duluth). I have toured this nation to tell the stories of the victims of these acts of annihilation primarily perpetrated by white men against mostly black men. Each site is different. The soil, the air, and the way the sunlight hits the ground are all different. There is no common denominator between these scenes of depravity, except that a black person lost their life at each one.
I have held vigils at these forsaken places. I have perceived the faint screams of justice enveloped in the breeze. I have stared into the horizon at these desecrated sites, and with my peripheral vision, I have seen the anguish visible in the fauna and foliage.
Does death vanquish the quest for justice, or is it incumbent upon the living to carry the torch to illuminate the transgressions of the past?
Every time I made the pilgrimage to a lynching venue, I prepared myself by quieting my mind. I composed myself to become a vessel. I opened myself up to the surroundings, and I tried to recreate what this place looked like when the black person was being…
