by Deborah L. Hughes, President & CEO, National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House
“Whatever faults and failings other nations may have in their dealings with their own subjects or with other people, no other civilized nation stands condemned before the world with a series of crimes so peculiarly national,” wrote journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett in The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the Unites State, 1895.
The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House stands in solidarity with those from the past, like Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and those from the present who have called out our nation’s long-standing hypocrisy of waving the banners of “freedom” and “justice for all” while brutally extinguishing life and liberty through our “justice system”” for others, like George Floyd.
In The Red Record, Wells-Barnett published the names of those known to have been lynched in 1893 and 1894, in order to awaken the nation to the depth of the atrocities. In 2018, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened in Montgomery, Alabama, listing on 800 monuments thousands of names of those who have been lynched. The sacred memorial was “conceived with the hope of creating a sober, meaningful site where people can gather and reflect on America’s history of racial inequality.”
Today, we remember these women, men, and children who have died in recent years because we, as a nation, have failed to put an end to the racial terror in our communities. We grieve with their families, and we pause to say their names. We know there are many more whose names we do not know.
George Floyd
Breonna Taylor
Ahmaud Arbery
Charleena Chavon Lyles
Michael Brown
Korryn Gaines
Trayvon Martin
Sandra Bland
Eric Garner
Alexia Christian
Philando Castile
Mya Hall
Laquan McDonald
Meagan Hockaday
Tamir Rice
Jordan Davis
Alton Sterling
Janisha Fonville
Freddie Gray
Natasha McKenna
Sean Reed
Tanisha Anderson
Aura Rosser
Walter Scott
Kendrec McDade
Sheneque Proctor
Michelle Cusseaux
Botham Jean
Pearlie Golden
Gabriella Nevarez
Oscar Grant
Kenneth Chamberlain
Yvette Smith
Miriam Carey
Samuel DuBose
Kyam Livingston
Kayla Moore
Shelly Frey
Malissa Williams
Amadou Diallo
Alesia Thomas
Shantel Davis
Sharmel Edwards
Rekia Boyd
Shereese Francis
Aiyana Stanley-Jones
Tarika Wilson
Kathryn Johnston
Alberta Spruill
Kendra James
LaTanya Haggerty
Margaret LaVerne Mitchell
Tyisha Miller
Danette Daniels
Frankie Ann Perkins
Sonji Taylor
Eleanor Bumpurs
In her autobiography, Wells-Barnett shared that, “The very frequent inquiry made after my lectures by interested friends is ‘What can I do to help the cause?’ The answer always is: ‘Tell the world the facts.’”
We are grateful for the witness of Ida B. Wells Barnett, the Equal Justice Initiative, #BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, and any person or organization that is committed to exposing the depth and truth of our nation’s racial terrorism. We believe that we must have the courage to face the horrific truth of our past and the painful reality of our present, before we can move toward to healing and reconciliation. We are on our knees in solidarity for a beloved community.
May you be well, may you be safe, may you be courageous.
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