1911 lynching victims that were mother and son. You will see their monuments in the slide below. photo credit: google.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice or Lynching Museum was inspired from the Apartheid Museum and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It was founded by the Equal Justice Initiative and its creator Bryan Stevenson. Its location is in the Deep South in Montgomery , Alabama.
After visiting the museum, I was eating lunch with my family in a local restaurant. A friend of my mothers walked in. She introduced me to this fella named Bubba( a chuckle here is OK). We told him we went to see this new museum and immediately a smirk came over his face (no more chuckles to follow). I knew then that whatever was about to come out of his mouth was going to take considerable amount of restraint on my part not to blow a stack with his cynical response about The National Memorial For Peace And Justice.
Yours truly getting ready to take the tour.
Bubba started in by saying, “I have never seen any KKK here ( seriously- what a thing to say ) in this town and I am not about to go to that place. In fact we aren’t a problem here. Our local high school even voted to keep their Robert E. Lee monument.”
I could have said a few things to him, but chose to keep my mouth shut. Bubba was not gonna change his way. What gets me is that this man can not see the genuineness of placing such a breathtaking memorial right in the heart of dixie where so much was taken away from the present people we see walking our streets. We can not go back and change any of the injustices that were done, but we can remember and this is a fitting way. My hope is if not Bubba that others will come and make this a part of their journey in this life and that future peoples will prioritize their lives to place Montgomery, Alabama on their map of places to come to and pay respect to those who lost their lives through lynching.
alesiablogs 
Wow, very interesting. I would love to see that one day.
Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you Laila. I really was touched by this place and I do hope others will come pay their respects to the past of such a horrible time in our history.
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Oh Alesia, what a sad but important topic. The soul of the country is at stake in understanding, accepting, and atoning for the many egregious acts of racism. The reaction you describe is dismaying, but the fact that the museum has been built in the Deep South is heartening. Thank you for the post.
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I am glad it is in the south. It is where it ought to be. Thank you for reading Jane!
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Dear Alesia, I found your blog via Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo and I am a student in The Silent Eye – School of Mystery. I was touched by your blog because I have worked with special needs children – physical/developmental/emotional for more than 10 years and I always loved them all, even those children who had violent tendencies. I am 76 now, but I enjoyed my years of work with them very much, every day of it.
I also appreciated your article on the museums on the lynchings and all the other similar types of museums in the south. It is a terrible thing that human beings have done to others throughout history and throughout the world, but as others noted, it is good that the many, way too many, victims are being given some meaningful memory of what they suffered. I read recently on the Internet that there have been at least five more hangings that are highly suspicious and that were designated “suicides” for each case. It never ends, and hopefully some day the people who did those horrific things will come to some form of justice. I live in So. CA. and I visited the Museum of Tolerance there. It was particularly memorable because you go through the stages and making your own judgments in what seem to be minor events, and then the historical things leading up to the concentration camps. You ultimately go into a model of a gas chamber, and then when you come out, you are given a ticket that will let you know whether a person whose photo you have survived the Nazis or whether they died in the camps.
I hope that your son is doing well where he is. I know what a difficult decision it is. The good thing is that today more than any time, there are a lot of techniques and skilled people to use them so there is hope for his well being through his adulthood. Thank you again, and I am glad I found your blog through Sue Vincent’s blog site. I have met a lot of good folks on there for certain. Oh, I am pretty much retired, but going to become a CASA (Court-appointed Special Advocate) for foster children. CASA.org is in many states, and there is a huge need for this work.
You noted that you are doing workshops or classes too, and I am interested to know what you are working with. Thank you kindly. Anne
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Thank you Anne for your kind comment. I love Sue!! My blog is essentially my workshop!! I an going to be writing more about the experience we had with Luke’s involuntary hospitalization and what we witnessed in hopes others will learn from it. Blessings to you and thank you for following! What city in Sou CA are you in? I do like it there.
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I am sorry that I read through and got so excited about finding you that I forgot your question about where I live. I live in the Inland Empire of Southern California in a little town called Yucaipa, CA. I have lived in Southern California since I believe the 1960’s in one part or another, and I like it too, though I have lived in some rough neighborhoods.
I always used my noggin though, and one time I lived in some very low-income apartments, and there was a gang that bothered the residences next to mine, and the people were often prevented from entering safely their own apartments. I believe in the power of the press, and you just have to find the right press to start addressing to get some action, but they ARE out there for sure. Anyway, I wrote a legalese type letter from the “name withheld for protection of self and others” Neighborhood Association (they didn’t even know what the words meant) threatening the owner with legal action, again in some legit sounding legalese, and whoo hooo, we got action really quickly from the owner, who was not a resident in the area and those gang type people were removed from the neighborhood.
It is not easy, but we can find advocates and mentors (what I was intending to become for juvenile delinquents when I got my 2nd degree at 74 after having breast cancer surgery in my last year of the online course. Instead, I am in process of becoming a mentor/advocate for foster children through CASA.org (which means Court-appointed Special Advocates). Actually, CASA.org is in many states, and they sure can use volunteers. Although they handle mainly foster children, they also are connected with other organizations that might be able to help you. It is worth it to check in. None of us are millionaires, but children DO need advocates and mentors whether they are special needs or not.
We just had a 13-year-old girl in my area hang herself because she was being bullied. Had she had the support of one of the facilities that are not state or federal, or the organizations, she might still be here.
So sad, so it is worth it to find out and use every single resource you can identify. Talk to them in depth about your son, and pay attention to the sorts of responses and actions they give. The ones that are good, keep a record of and the ones that are not responsive and kind, throw in the trash. Be totally proactive and do your research using our best friend, Google.com.
It is how I avoided cancer therapy of some five days a week of radiation and five YEARS of anti-hormonal treatment (plus some other research I did). At my age then I would more likely have died from the treatments than any cancer, and besides, my boobs have served me very well in my lifetime to nourish my children and to make boob prints when I was 65 (I am also an artist) that I used to make art quilts for charities, and they never even had a clue what those lovely Gardens of Earthly Delights consisted of. Even I could not recognize them as other than flowers.
Anyway, you need all the resources to help you that you can find, so do your research and also use Facebook to find groups for parents with special needs children. There are some great ones. If I had my own special needs child, I would become the veritable ” The good, the bad, and the ugly,” depending on what resources I needed and I would NEVER give up until all of the cows were in!!! Seriously, I talk with humor sometimes, but I am not laughing at you or your son or making fun of the situation. It is just that we have to maintain balance in our lives no matter what! As my mom used to say, “There is no such word as “can’t” in the English dictionary. And she was right! I wish you all the best of everything life has to offer.
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