TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay is residence to a number of the most stunning seashores alongside the Gulf Coast, theme parks, Super Bowl and Stanley Cup champs, and delightful climate. But, like many of the nation, Tampa has a darkish previous rooted in racism.
“There’s some ugly history, but we have to face it head on,” stated State Representative Dianne Hart.
That’s what Monday’s ceremony was all about. More than a dozen individuals gathered at the Riverwalk at Doyle Carlton Dr. And W. Laurel St. for the revealing of the lynching marker honoring Robert Johnson.
Johnson, 40, was accused of assaulting a white lady in 1934. He was in a position to show his innocence and was cleared of all costs. Instead of simply releasing him, he was turned over to an armed white man, lynched, and his physique was left close to the Hillsborough River at Sligh Ave.
“That is literally three blocks from where I live,” Mayor Jane Castor stated. “To think that less than 100 years ago something like that happened in our community is a reminder of how far we have come, but how far we have to go.”
According to the NAACP, there have been 4,000 lynchings in America between 1882 to 1968. And within the Thirties, Florida had the best variety of lynchings per capita.
“I’m 67-years-old.” Hart stated. “I know what this hatred really truly looks like.”
It’s private for State Rep. Hart.
“I had to go to color water fountains. I had to go to black-only doors to get into businesses when I was a kid growing up,” stated Hart.
She remembered a narrative her mom advised her in regards to the purpose the household needed to depart Georgia.
“The whole family had to leave in the dead of the night because he [my mom’s brother] was going to be lynched for looking at a white woman,” she stated. “My mother’s family was basically destroyed.“
Monday’s ceremony was triggering for Hart and several others.
Councilman Luis Viera and several other elected officials spent the last several years pushing for Johnson’s marker to be put up. He said it’s important that Americans know this country’s history and learn from it.
“It’s very critical, because painful and ignored history is still relevant to us today,” he stated. “A lot of issues that are political issues today have their roots in history. If we don’t talk about that history, than we can’t be well informed.”
