By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
On the day before Juneteenth, a crowd braved a blazing Saturday afternoon at Caldwell Plaza to honor a man none had ever met.
Dana Adams was a young Black man who was lynched in Salina in 1893. No one was ever arrested for the lynching. Saturday's event concluded two years of work by the Dana Adams Project 1893 Coalition to make Adams' story widely known.
The community remembrance event began with a Mercy Luncheon at 1 p.m. that was organized by the North Salina Community Development organization with entertainment provided by the Bantu Drumming Group and Daisy Kabagarama.
A ceremony that led to the unveiling of a permanent marker in remembrance Adams began at 3 p.m.
The Rev. Delores 'Dee' J. Williamston, a member of the Coalition for The Dana Adams Project 1893, told those assembled that 23 people had been documented as being lynched in Kansas. This day, however, was dedicated to Adams. The event was filled with prayer, song, poetry, and a proclamation reading.
"This marker commemorates a very sad, horrendous event. It is a reminder of the biblical sinking sand foundation of slavery and resentment upon which this country was built. As a historical marker, it should be an uncomfortable place to stand and ponder. The Dana Adams Project, under the wider auspices of the Equal Justice Initiative has worked hard to fill in the blanks in our American history," Salina Mayor Trent Davis told the crowd. "Yet, as a historical marker, it can serve as the second cornerstone as this little piece of America seeks to rebuild its foundation, building on the solid rocks of education, acknowledgement, understanding, and reconciliation. It is an opportunity for our community and country to right its original wrong and re-invent itself as everything wonderful that our flag has ever stood for."
Davis continued, "This is, indeed, a day to wave the red, white, and blue, along with the red, black, and green, and all the other colors of the fabric that make up America."
Not often, Davis said, are there second chances to get something right.
"Let's take this opportunity to come together and be the change that is desperately needed. The day of Dana Adams' lynching was a very sad day, but today marks a day full of much hope and forgiveness," he said.
Sandy Beverly, also a member of the Coalition for The Dana Adams Project 1893, acknowledged that there was more work to do.
"I know that our work is not done. We have more work to do, but if those of us collectively here can join our power, our strength, and our positivity together, we can get things done," Beverly said.
Sheryl Wilson, executive director of the Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, was the guest speaker for Saturday's event. Wilson told the crowd that when she was asked to speak at the event, she was honored, but also stunned.
"When I heard the name of the gentleman who was lynched, I was stunned. Like many of you, of course, I was unfamiliar with this story, like many of you who live in this community. But the thing that I was stuck on was his last name. Adams is my maiden name," Wilson said. "Now I have no idea, and I have not begun the search to see whether there's any relation, but I believe, no matter what, I do believe that this is not a coincidence. This was meant to be."
Additionally, Wilson noted the earlier mention of the significance of Caldwell Plaza and the plaza's namesake, educator Robert Caldwell, who was Salina's first Black mayor. She said her grandmother's maiden name was Caldwell.
"So I just feel like none of this is coincidental," she said.
Although Adams was born during the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era, a time when Blacks, now free, began being able to buy land, own businesses, vote, and even run for office, the societal climate was much different by the time he was an adult.
"All of that was systematically being dismantled by the time Dana Adams became an adult. There was a reign of terror on Black people at that time to take that back, and that is what the hand of white supremacy did," Wilson said. "When you think about how that happened, it speaks to the dehumanization of Black people. The value of being Black was being questioned once again since slavery."
Williams also talked about the trauma that is passed down through the generations after a lynching. She said she couldn't imagine what Dana Adams' father suffered, including being given only $2 after suing for the wrongful death of his son.
"The trauma affiliated with how we transcend beyond what some other group of people might think we're worth is something that we constantly have had to negotiate and renegotiate throughout the generations. The trauma people deal with today is rooted in the knowledge of their perceived worth that on some scale still is, as I've said, something we're having to deal with today," she said.
Williams talked about how that generational trauma has affected her, causing her to fear for her two grown sons who are doing nothing more than living their lives.
"People want to know that they are treated fair and equitably in their communities," she said.
"As we celebrate Juneteenth in this community, I am reminded of a quote by visual artist, activist, and academic Lilla Watson. She said, 'If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.' So to me, that translates to nobody's free until we are all free," Williams said.
She continued, "By marking this life that was tragically lost in this horrific way, we are working together toward liberation of this community from the white supremacy that once supressed this story from being told. We began to heal generational trauma held by this black community and we demand justice be a reality for this community and serve all that live in it.
"And so, with that, I just think about the ways that we got here. I just know that in this time, when all of this has become part of the nomenclature, before Black Lives Matter. Before Black is Beautiful. Before Black Power. Before civil rights was a movement. Before Brown vs. Board of Education. There was Jim Crow and Jim Crow came at a time and took the life of Dana Adams," Williams said. "And again, I quote those that said it before me, 'If we do not know our history, we are bound and destine to repeat it.' And so, therefore, the knowledge that we have collectively as a community, I hope we take this and use it as a tool so that we can all work toward our liberation together.
