Mike Stagg EJI/MTM Historical Marker Fund
Donation protected
February 18, 2019.
Today is Mike Stagg's 67th birthday. We had planned to visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Unfortunately, on February 12, Mike suffered a serious stroke.
Mike has spent his entire life advocating for justice, truth and equality. He will continue the fight as soon as he can. In the meantime, we have an opportunity to honor his work and the convergent goals of two organizations he admires and supports: the Equal Justice Initiative and Move the Mindset.
EJI built the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, which Mike wanted to see today. Move the Mindset is a local organization Mike belonged to which is committed to community education and engagement with racial justice. MTM has filed a formal application to acquire and install EJI's historical marker which lists the six African American victims of lynching in Lafayette Parish.
All contributions to this fund will be donated to support MTM's Historical Marker initiative, including acquisition of an appropriate site for the installation, educational materials, publicity and related costs. In the event MTM's application is unsuccessful, which is not expected, but possible, the funds will be donated to MTM's general fund to support their ongoing work for racial justice here in Lafayette, a passionate interest of Mike's.
Mike has spent his life working tirelessly and wholeheartedly for racial and social justice. Although he was unable to be at the national memorial on his birthday, we have a chance to recognize and support his work for racial healing by helping MTM bring the EJI's twin Lafayette Parish marker home.
More About the Historical Marker
The memorial structure at the center of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL, is constructed of over 800 corten steel monuments, one for each county in the United States where a racial terror lynching took place. The names of the lynching victims are engraved on the monuments. In the six-acre park surrounding the memorial is a field of identical monuments, waiting to be claimed and installed in the counties (and parishes) they represent. Over time, the National Memorial will serve as a report on which parts of the country have confronted the truth of this terror and which have not.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened to the public on April 26, 2018. It is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence. EJI Museum and Memorial
Here are the names of the victims of lynching engraved on the historical marker for Lafayette Parish:
Unnamed 4/-/1878
Rosalie Cormier 9/10/1889
Rosmond Cormier 9/10/1889
Ovide Belizaire 7/19/1895
Louis Senegal 3/24/1896
Antone Domingue 11/25/1906
More About Move the Mindset
Move the Mindset (MTM) is a Lafayette group committed to community education and engagement with racial justice. A coalition of fourteen groups have joined MTM. Inspired by the need to move a local Jim Crow statue, MTM has raised awareness of white supremacy in Lafayette Parish and continues to work towards its goal of social justice in the region.
While investigating matters related to Lafayette’s Jim Crow statue, MTM learned of the work of the Equal Justice Initiative, and has a pending application to bring home to the steel monument addressing Lafayette Parish's history of lynching. The goal is to continue MTM's efforts to support racial healing.
Today is Mike Stagg's 67th birthday. We had planned to visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Unfortunately, on February 12, Mike suffered a serious stroke.
Mike has spent his entire life advocating for justice, truth and equality. He will continue the fight as soon as he can. In the meantime, we have an opportunity to honor his work and the convergent goals of two organizations he admires and supports: the Equal Justice Initiative and Move the Mindset.
EJI built the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, which Mike wanted to see today. Move the Mindset is a local organization Mike belonged to which is committed to community education and engagement with racial justice. MTM has filed a formal application to acquire and install EJI's historical marker which lists the six African American victims of lynching in Lafayette Parish.
All contributions to this fund will be donated to support MTM's Historical Marker initiative, including acquisition of an appropriate site for the installation, educational materials, publicity and related costs. In the event MTM's application is unsuccessful, which is not expected, but possible, the funds will be donated to MTM's general fund to support their ongoing work for racial justice here in Lafayette, a passionate interest of Mike's.
Mike has spent his life working tirelessly and wholeheartedly for racial and social justice. Although he was unable to be at the national memorial on his birthday, we have a chance to recognize and support his work for racial healing by helping MTM bring the EJI's twin Lafayette Parish marker home.
More About the Historical Marker
The memorial structure at the center of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL, is constructed of over 800 corten steel monuments, one for each county in the United States where a racial terror lynching took place. The names of the lynching victims are engraved on the monuments. In the six-acre park surrounding the memorial is a field of identical monuments, waiting to be claimed and installed in the counties (and parishes) they represent. Over time, the National Memorial will serve as a report on which parts of the country have confronted the truth of this terror and which have not.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened to the public on April 26, 2018. It is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence. EJI Museum and Memorial
Here are the names of the victims of lynching engraved on the historical marker for Lafayette Parish:
Unnamed 4/-/1878
Rosalie Cormier 9/10/1889
Rosmond Cormier 9/10/1889
Ovide Belizaire 7/19/1895
Louis Senegal 3/24/1896
Antone Domingue 11/25/1906
More About Move the Mindset
Move the Mindset (MTM) is a Lafayette group committed to community education and engagement with racial justice. A coalition of fourteen groups have joined MTM. Inspired by the need to move a local Jim Crow statue, MTM has raised awareness of white supremacy in Lafayette Parish and continues to work towards its goal of social justice in the region.
While investigating matters related to Lafayette’s Jim Crow statue, MTM learned of the work of the Equal Justice Initiative, and has a pending application to bring home to the steel monument addressing Lafayette Parish's history of lynching. The goal is to continue MTM's efforts to support racial healing.
Organizer
Mimi Methvin
Organizer
Lafayette, LA