Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

yallerdawg

(16,104 posts)
Thu May 17, 2018, 09:03 AM May 2018

Lynching memorial may be game-changer for Montgomery tourism

Source: Associated Press, by Beth J. Harpaz


A memorial to the victims of racial lynchings and a new museum in Montgomery, Alabama, have gotten a lot of attention since opening in late April.

Some 10,000 people visited the memorial and museum in the first week. Tourism officials estimate they could attract 100,000 more visitors to this Southern city in the next year. One young man, Dimitri Digbeu Jr., who drove 13 hours from Baltimore to see the memorial, said he thought it had singlehandedly “rebranded” Montgomery.

“How do we get people to come here and make the pilgrimage here?” said filmmaker Ava DuVernay at a conference marking the memorial launch. “We have to be evangelists to go out and say what you saw here and what you experienced here. ... Don’t just leave feeling, ‘That was amazing. I cried.’”

DuVernay, whose Oscar-nominated movie “Selma” described the 1965 civil rights march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, noted that the memorial and museum were built by legal advocacy group the Equal Justice Initiative . “These people are lawyers fighting for people on death row,” DuVernay added. “They’re not thinking about how to market this to the wider world.”

Some travelers say the new memorial and museum have changed their minds about visiting the Deep South. “As a black American, I’m not crazy about the idea of driving down streets named after Confederate generals and averting my eyes from Confederate flags,” said New Yorker Brian Major. “But reconciliation and peace-making has to begin somewhere and for a project as worthy and important as the lynching memorial, I would be willing to make the trip.”

Much more at: https://apnews.com/1603c370733140bba371032a60a5e858/Lynching-memorial-may-be-game-changer-for-Montgomery-tourism


8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Lynching memorial may be game-changer for Montgomery tourism (Original Post) yallerdawg May 2018 OP
hopefully some will be heaven05 May 2018 #1
2016 presidential election results. yallerdawg May 2018 #2
pretty map of alabama heaven05 May 2018 #3
You're aware the state just added an additional Democratic US Senator. yallerdawg May 2018 #4
yeah on the senator heaven05 May 2018 #6
Road trip Monday with friends to see it The Blue Flower May 2018 #5
2 PM "Poor People's Campaign" Rally on the steps of the State Capital. yallerdawg May 2018 #7
Thanks for the info The Blue Flower May 2018 #8
 

heaven05

(18,124 posts)
1. hopefully some will be
Thu May 17, 2018, 09:13 AM
May 2018

educated and enlightened, black and white. But game changer? No. AmeriKKKa and Montgomery will remain as racist as it has ALWAYS been.

 

heaven05

(18,124 posts)
3. pretty map of alabama
Thu May 17, 2018, 09:42 AM
May 2018

Only because those areas in blue reflect racial demographics can it be used as an present day excuse/reflection to divert/distract from the FACT Montgomery, Alabama and this country are irredeemably racist.

Thank you for the pretty map. All that blued DOES NOT take away from the red and what that color reflects.

yallerdawg

(16,104 posts)
4. You're aware the state just added an additional Democratic US Senator.
Thu May 17, 2018, 10:02 AM
May 2018

New York City gave us the Dotard.

Isn't New York City blue?

 

heaven05

(18,124 posts)
6. yeah on the senator
Thu May 17, 2018, 10:42 AM
May 2018

who could miss that? NYC? True. Blue. NYC was just his business playground-base. The city did not give us trump, it created what he is. Con, racist, fascist, sexist, bigoted, cheat and cheap when some work needed doing, somewhat homophobic, I suspect. Alabama and a host of other states gave us this racist potus. I have extensive experience with the south. I and many other AA's always have said, at least in the south we would know where we stood in the 'pecking order' and who hated us. The north, not so open and obvious with their hate. That is all it comes down to, with me. Always in 65 years of ameriKKKan living. As a personal aside, yes when trump is out of office, I will drop the KKK. But he and sessions represent the sterling example of white supremacist-nationalists and to me the majority of Alabamans.

Lynching memorial, excellent location in the heart of the new Confederacy, in old Dixie.

Latest Discussions»Region Forums»Alabama»Lynching memorial may be ...