Decades after three Black men were lynched in Salisbury, Maryland, the city is taking steps toward healing. Salisbury’s City Council just voted to approve an official apology. But while most people agree that it’s a path forward, some think the city’s actions don’t go far enough.
Those advocating for reconciliation wanted Salisbury to issue an apology to all of its Black residents for the murders of Garfield King, Matthew Williams and an unidentified middle-aged Black man who were lynched by white mobs between 1898 and 1931 in the town of 33,000 on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Additionally, they wanted the city to atone for its “historical role in targeting the larger Black community of Salisbury during and after these acts of racial terrorism, and for its negligence in not protecting its own citizens.”
But instead, the city’s apology stops short, addressing only the lynching victim’s families and left out a conversation about a path forward. Critics were quick to call out their words for being too little too late.
“It’s a boilerplate, vanilla apology that doesn’t really say anything,” said James Yamakawa, head of the Wicomico Truth and Reconciliation Initiative, to The Washington Post.
Source: Maryland Town Apologizes For History of Lynchings, But Some Say It’s Not Enough
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