Ed Johnson lynching remembered
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (WDEF)- “Let’s continue to attempt to build bridges with those who will stand on the other side and plank by plank brick by brick with mallet and hand remove the bridges which already exist,” said Donivan Brown.
March 19, 1906, Ed Johnson was murdered by a lynch mob on the Walnut Street Bridge for a crime he didn’t commit.
116 years later a lot has changed, a memorial has been built, the bridge is now a walking path, but there is still more change that needs to happen.
“We know that the injustice that took place. The only way that we can get together and continue to move forward we have to build bridges. Our lives have to come together even through the struggles and all the things you’ve gone through and what Ed Johnson had to endure. Hopefully, so that we as people can see this as a bridge we all must cross and hopefully get past it,” said Kitchens.
The bridge was used to kill Johnson but the bridge is also used as a symbol for today, via building bridges in a time of crisis.
“And it appears to me that we as Americans may not have the most robust mechanisms to de-escalate once the fight is beginning. So how do we in this moment when things are ratching up how can we quote our minds and spirits just long enough so that we can look at one another for who we are, look at the country for what it is and engage with ourselves? Talk about, think through, feel through the challenging moments that challenge the components of our society,” said Brown.
For the first time on the anniversary of Johnson’s death, people were able to lay flowers at the Ed Johnson memorial.
“With the flower in my hand as I approach the Morial to my surprise I felt an intense degree of grief, and sadness, and honor. I don’t know what I would feel but I was surprised with the intensity of what I felt,” said Donivan.
“To commemorate his legacy and the laid flowers down it’s just an honor so that he will be remembered that we have celebrated his life laying those flowers,” said Kitchens.
