Duluth Delegation Still Emotional After Trip to Memorial of Peace and Justice

35 Duluthians attended the unveiling of the memorial dedicated to victims of lynching

DULUTH, Minn. – In April, thirty-five people from Duluth attended the unveiling of the Memorial of Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.

Nearly a month since their life changing bus trip to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, Duluthians are still struck by the emotions from the experience.

“This lynching history, the light that this whole trip brings to it is amazing,” said Carl Huber, who went on the trip. “It’s a story that has to be told.”

A room in Duluth’s Peace United Church of Christ was filled with stories of the once-in-a-lifetime journey to the monument dedicated to the lives of more than 5,000 lynching victims in the United States.

“You’re looking up like this, at least I was, and the light was pouring in that day and I was frozen,” explained Huber. “Even though I had nothing blocking me it was so overwhelming, the death, the horror, what happened in our country.”

Huber and his daughter Anna were among the thirty-five Duluthians to take the trip organized by Duluth’s Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Board.

“How has this not been talked about?” asked Anna Huber. “How do we not talk about this? How do all these lives just disappear and no one says anything.”

The group stopped in Cairo, Illinois, Memphis, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama before joining many other communities at the memorial in Montgomery.

They and their fellow travelers are sharing their experiences to bring modern-day racial inequity to light in Duluth and across the country.

“We look back on these things and we say oh that was bad, we understand that was bad yet we’re still doing the same thing except calling it something else,” said Anna Huber.

They know systemic change won’t happen overnight, but tell us it’s important to move the conversation forward.

“It’s so important that we tell our story and we listen to each other in a way that builds community, that we can start hearing each other, talk to each other, and listen to each other in a way that finds solutions to the problems across these complicated issues,” said Carl Huber.

Duluth civil rights leaders plan to lead additional trips in the future so even more people can experience the monument firsthand.

“It lit a fire under you, you know? Like you wanted to go and change something,” said Anna Huber.

Peace United Church may host another sharing session like this one sometime in the fall. Anyone can come, listen, and ask questions about the trip.