Lithonia Police investigating theft of historic marker removed from city park

DEKALB COUNTY, GA—The Lithonia Police Department is investigating the theft of the Remembrance Project lynching marker, which was erected in the city’s downtown. 

The NAACP DeKalb County Branch was notified on Tuesday by Lithonia Mayor Shemeka Reynolds that someone stole the Remembrance Project lynching marker sometime last week from William A. Kelly Park in Lithonia.

D. E. Smith, chairperson for the Remembrance Project, was speechless when she heard about the theft.

“This is unbelievable and shocking especially during Black History Month,” Smith said. “We worked so hard to get this plaque and it just hurts my heart to see it taken. It is like these lynching victims have been violated twice.”

The plaque was installed on July 17, 2021, after the Remembrance Committee compiled information about the victims of racial hatred in Lithonia. The committee spent over two years investigating and preparing a memorial that represented those names that could be discovered and the nameless black men that died at the hands of racial terror. The stolen marker was dedicated to memory of Ruben Hudson and the two unnamed victims in Lithonia. A total of three markers were placed around DeKalb County in remembrance of lynching victims.

“The removal of this marker is not just an act of theft but an attempt to erase our collective memory and deny the painful truths of our past. Such actions only underscore the importance of our history,” NAACP Branch president Edwina Clanton said.

Lithonia Council member Darold Honore condemned the theft of the bronze plaque, calling it “shameful.”

 “It’s either hatred or they stole it to sell for metal. Either way, it was wrong,”  Honore said.