In Black History Month, Remembering a Lynching in Duluth, Minnesota

DULUTH, Minnesota, Feb. 28 -- It happened here. This is Minnesota, and more specifically, Duluth, Minnesota... but it happened here.

This is the land of "Minnesota Nice", good, hard working Scandinavians tilling the soil, mining, and saying "Thank you"... and "how is the weather?" But, it happened here. These black men were lynched here.

I normally think it moot to mention my race, my heritage. In this case, perhaps it would add dimension to my perspective as you see it. I am Caucasian. In winter my Swedish skin becomes as sugary white as the snow. You betcha, a white boy. I was born in Southern Minnesota, but apparently my parents found the winters too mild, so decided to migrate to Duluth, MN. Much Better! Twenty years I lived here before I knew what happened in Duluth.

First you will probably examine Black History Month. And as deserved, you will hear of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and George Washington Carver. But, I do not believe you will hear of Isaac McGhie, Elias Clayton or Elmer Clayton. Strung up, and lynched in Duluth on June 15, 1920.

I am not going to report on the facts for you today. The details can be found at http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2001/06/lynching/page1.shtml.

Here in Duluth we commemorated a memorial to these men in 2003. A long time in the waiting. A remembrance, and I believe, a note of caution.

The remembrance is found on a cold February morning, my breath is visible, and maybe twenty others stand near the memorial. There are speakers, and potentates, but I cannot focus. I see three men hanging from a streetlight. Guilty? Maybe. Not guilty. Maybe. But the experience to be dragged out of jail by a bloodthirsty mob of hyenas is the only image I can see in my guilty mind. I do not feel guilty because I am white, I feel guilty because I am human, and humans did this to other humans.

I do not believe because of the past, our forefathers need to be avenged by those generations that had their ancestors robbed of God's good plan. But I think Black History Month could teach us much more than it does at present.

We talk of immigration, and of equality, but rarely do we remember our sins. True, sins should be forgiven, but I never read that they should be forgotten

So as I stood there, freezing but yet warm in my soul. Watching the memorializers talk , and understanding that at least this crime was bringing a community together. Yes far past due. But after 80 years, we are seeing that color is irrelevant.

I mentioned cautionary, did I not? We think that the racial divide is closing, and here in the USA, maybe it is. Can the same be said of the larger world? In Israel the Palestinians are hated and the Jews are hated by the Arabs, and the Muslims in Indonesia are with out power, but the Christians are afraid... It is not over. We must remain vigilant. If you want to relax and say everything is now equal among the races, ask the ghosts of Isaac, Elias and Elmer, see if they agree.

We will always judge others, it is in our nature. But if we must, let us judge on character, ability, soul and heart. Because I know that as I viewed the eyes of the others, on that cold February day. Through my breath I saw the eyes of my brothers.