Frankfort group honors victims of lynchings

A group in Frankfort is opening a difficult conversation for some: race.

Ed Powe is the president of Focus on Race Relations- Frankfort (FORR). Powe says, "Nobody wants to talk about race. Race is that 800 pound gorilla. It's always in the room. Nobody sees it, nobody hears it, and nobody wants to do anything about it."

But on Sunday, the group held another conversation. This time, there was standing room only.

The focus of this service was to honor two men who were lynched at the Singing Bridge in Frankfort. Marshal Boston was killed in 1894 and John Maxey was killed 15 years later.

People like Pamela Jones want to remember Boston, Maxey, and the many people who were lynched in Kentucky. "They died a dishonorable death and it's important to let people know that this happened."

But it's not just the Frankfort community honoring these men. Soil from the foot of the bridge will soon be on display at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. A representative from EJI was at the service, where they collected the dirt.

Powe says this dark part of history needs to be remembered in order to help our future. "If you don't talk about these things, if you don’t understand why they happened, history has a way of repeating itself," he says.

Others like Jorian Jones agree. "Because racism still exists today,” she states. “And if it started somewhere, it can end somewhere."