DETROIT – A front yard on Detroit’s west side is filled with 42 Black faces placed on crosses. Behind them is the message “Black Lives Matter.”
It’s really a powerful image. Each picture is someone who died during the Black Lives Matter or Civil Rights Movement.
“Right now, there are 42 crosses, 42 names, 42 pictures” John Thorne said.
There all displayed in front of Thorne’s home on Birchcrest Drive.
“What we have here is a memorial for all those who lost their lives. Some of them have lost their lives during the Civil Rights Movement. Some of them more recently, in what we consider the Black Lives Matter Movement,” Thorne said.
Thorne and his son wanted to honor those who died during the two movements. Looking at the makeshift monuments, is like taking a look in the past -- some say it’s a very ugly and dark past.
You see Emmit Till, Sandra Bland, Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd -- just to name a few.
“People have come by in cars, and walking by, and stopped to pay respect, pay tribute and honor their lives” Thorne said.
“I think what John has done is amazing. Because I heard of some of these, but this many. This really blows my mind, there’s no way to say it. This is amazing, I’m glad he did it,” Maria Elena Murguia said.
Ron Davis who is the father of Jordan Davis also commented. Jordan Davis was shot and killed at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida, for playing his music too loud in 2012.
“I am just so overwhelmed and I’m just so glad that I’m smiling and I’ll probably be smiling all day. I thank that person, I thank Detroit for remembering my son,” Ron Davis said.
READ: Here’s how you can support the fight against racial injustice without leaving your home