May 28, 2018 The Nation.^11tors. Murderers wreak not just public forms of terror, but
intergenerational havoc in intimate and domestic spheres
as well; their victims include their own children, who were
taught that unjust death was just life.
Second, we mustn’t forget that this memorial rec-
ognizes the diversity of the victims of lynching—which,
while directed mainly against black men, spared few who
defied white supremacy, including women, Jews, and
those deemed foreigners.
Third, we need to erect additional monuments to the
legacy of slavery. The symbolic accumulation of things and
people we commemorate speaks for itself: Of 152 national
monuments, only three are dedicated to women; of 30 na-
tional memorials, not a single one is. That’s why it was so
good to see Wells-Barnett honored at the national memo-
rial in Montgomery. But perhaps that should inspire us to
even greater ambition: Let’s remember that, in addition tobeing a courageous journalist and a Rosa Parks before her
time, Wells-Barnett was also a schoolteacher, a business-
woman, a political candidate, a statistician, a sociologist, a
wife and mother of six, an opponent of anti-miscegenation
laws, and a feminist who fought for the right of women
to vote (while refusing requests that she and other black
women march at the back of suffragist demonstrations).
In short, Ida B. Wells-Barnett deserves a far big-
ger statue than the one on my piano. Luckily, there’s a
movement to build her a proper monument of her own
in Bronzeville, on the South Side of Chicago, where she
spent the latter years of her life. It will cost $300,000, only
a third of which has been raised; if you wish to contribute,
you may do so at idabwellsmonument.org. Also, her de-
scendants have set up a foundation to provide scholarships
for needy students attending Rust College; contributions
may be made at ibwfoundation.org. QThe symbolic
accumulation
of people we
commemorate
speaks for itself:
Of 152 national
monuments, only
three are dedi-
cated to women.Calvin Trillin
Deadline Poet
TRUMP THREATENS SENATOR TESTER
“I know things about Tester... and if I said them he’d never be
elected again.” —Donald TrumpThat Trumpian threat sounds familiar—
That boast of what he can unearth.
You think he was trying to tell us
That Tester’s a Kenyan by birth?AP PHOTO
Past as Present
SNAPSHOT / BRYNN ANDERSONA statue depicting chained slaves is now on
display at the National Memorial for Peace and
Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. It’s the first
national memorial dedicated to enslaved black
people, lynching victims, those humiliated by
racial segregation, and those suffering police
violence because of the color of their skin.