See Slavery in Everything: Reflections on an alamaba pilgrimage

both image link to a short EJI videos

"Truth-telling is a path to justice work." This sentiment was the palpable force behind every inch of The Legacy Museum and the Memorial for Peace & Justice in Montgomery, AL. Both are the brainchild of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative.

Of the many remarkable experiences I had there, two stand out at this moment, both from the Community Remembrance Project. Descendants or community members are encouraged to dig a jarful of dirt from the site of a lynching. There are rows and rows of these jars at the Legacy Museum, each marked with the name of the victim, the brown earthen hues eerily suggestive of the skin color of the lynched. 

Historical markers all over the country tell a one-sided story. EJI sponsors truth-telling through historical markers: they'll support communities wanting to erect monuments to lynching or other forms of racial terrorism. The Pacific NW hosts only one, in Coos Bay, OR. Yet we can see the effects of slavery everywhere, if we make the commitment to look.

Sept. 2022 Back to Blog Home

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