City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: MARCH 6, 2019
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
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Consideration and endorsement of the planning process for Alexandria's participation in the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI).
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ISSUE: As part of a new, nationally-acclaimed memorial, the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, has created steel pillar monuments to mark each of the more than 800 cities and counties in which 4,743 reported racial terror lynchings took place between 1882 and 1968. Alexandria's pillar is engraved with the names of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thompson, who were murdered in the late 1890s and lynched on lamp posts in Old Town. The Equal Justice Initiative has invited jurisdictions to claim their monuments.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council:
(1) Endorse the Equal Justice Initiative engagement process as outlined in this memorandum;
(2) Request that the City Manager seek recommendations from the proposed ad hoc committee
and then provide a recommendation to City Council for the placement of Alexandria's
Equal Justice Initiative pillar and markers; and
(3) Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents that may be required as
part of the Equal Justice Initiative process.
BACKGROUND: The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is a private, nonprofit organization that challenges poverty and racial injustice, advocates for equal treatment in the criminal justice system, and creates hope for marginalized communities. EJI opened The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama in 2018.
The Equal Justice Initiative published Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror in 2015, documenting thousands of racial terror lynchings in...
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