Although he apologized that his voice was scratchy from a "rock concert," Gabriel Mayfield did his best to belt out the song "A Change is Gonna Come" as part of the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Day of Remembrance on Tuesday.
The crowd chuckled at the "rock concert" reference, but that was the only collective laugh heard throughout the program, which observed the 90th anniversary of the Duluth lynching of three black men: Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie. The men were wrongfully accused of raping a white woman and lynched by an angry mob in 1920.
The 2010 Week of Remembrance included a march Tuesday from the Minnesota Power Plaza to the memorial at First Street and Second Avenue East. A group of about 75, some carrying signs, stopped at the old downtown Duluth jail on East Superior Street to place a wreath near a plaque indicating the three men were jailed there.
Scott Capistrant made a sign for the event that read, "Don't let your roots hold you down. Our differences make us stronger."
It was his first time at the annual event, held since the memorial was built in 2003. Capistrant attended with staff members of Life House, a drop-in resource center for homeless youth.
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Fosam Buma Foncham, a 2010 Duluth East High School graduate and recipient of this year's Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Scholarship, said the three men did not die in vain.
"Look at us," he said. "Minorities and the majority are together here trying to end racism."
Keynote speaker Susana Pelayo-Woodward, director of the University of Minnesota Duluth Office of Cultural Diversity, said she is hopeful.
"I probably won't see the end of racism, but hope we can make a better world for our children," she said.
To that end, Pelayo-Woodward said, "every time you hear it, whether it's racism or xenophobia, you stop it."
The event also included comments from Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Board member Mari Trine, Duluth City Councilor Kerry Gauthier, musical performances by the Oshkii Giizhik Singers, and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation; and a candle-lighting ceremony by Xavier Bell.
