Following a ceremony, Reconciliation through Remembrance, which included music, the reading of a proclamation issued by Kansas City, MO., Mayor Sly James declaring Dec. 1, 2018, Levi Harrington Day, a recitation of the poem Lynch Family Blues by poet Glenn North of the Black Archives of Mid-America, remarks by Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr., a reading by the winner of a high school essay contest, and a healing ritual facilitated by Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould of Missouri Faith Voices, the historical marker was unveiled.
Bishop Johnston read a letter, “A Call for Racial Reconciliation from the Missouri Catholic Conference,” signed by the four bishops of Missouri —Archbishop Carlson of St. Louis, Bishop Johnston, Bishop McKnight of Jefferson City and Bishop Rice of Springfield Cape Girardeau — that says in part, “By publicly recognizing that lynching occurred here, and permanently marking these horrific acts as events of historical significance, we can begin the process of acknowledgment and atonement that is necessary for us to move forward as a people dedicated to the idea that all men are created equally in the image and likeness of God.”
