On Wednesday, Tim and I took a spontaneous date to Washington Park in Portland. Without the kids, we were able to meander around and came upon a small memorial on the edge of the forest dedicated to the relatives of Jewish immigrants that were murdered by Nazis during World War II. It’s a relatively recent monument, erected in 2004. The names are of people who died eighty years ago. The inscription details the events leading up to the attempted eradication of an entire ethic group. It states that even though the Nazis were a numerical minority in Europe, the indifference of the majority allowed for millions of people to be killed by them. One of stated purposes of the memorial is to prevent such atrocities from reoccurring.

A few days ago my sister-in-law posted a photo of another wall with several names of Black people who died from police in Denver, Colorado. Their deaths are also much more recent, all since the year 2000.

These names were not chiseled in marble surrounded by trees in a quiet garden, but spray-painted in haste on a cement wall were the public will be confronted by them. The purpose is not for contemplative reflection for sins of times past, but urgency for a current community crisis. “Never again” is right now.

———

Elijah McClain, age 23, 2019

Paul Childs, age 15, 2003

Michael Marshall, age 50, 2015

David Baker, age 32, 2019