8th annual Moore's Ford Bridge Lynching Reenactment

This weekend is the 8th annual Moore's Ford Bridge Lynching Reenactment in Monroe, Ga. The reenactment which is equal parts theater and chilling lesson in Georgia history is bound to leave any viewer deeply moved. The event reenacts the 1946 unsolved lynching in Monroe, Georgia which left 4 African-Americans and one unborn baby dead at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan. The event is led every year by Georgia Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta. Brooks, who also serves as the president of Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, says he holds the event in hopes that the people who committed the crime will be brought to justice.

“We owe it to the whole concept of rule and law," he says. "We are a republic found on democratic principle that all our citizens are treated equal. When one of us are violated we are all violated so we need to work towards making sure nobody ever escapes the rule of law."

Brooks demands that the case be reopened. He says that the original FBI report in 1946 said that the Ku Klux Klan were responsible and that they had 55 suspects.

“These were young suspects, he says. "Most were not even 30 years old so we are certain that some of those suspects are still living. We think that the federal state and local governments have a responsibility to bring the suspects before the bar of justice to stand trial for this heinous massacre."

Brooks believes that former Gov. Eugene Talmadge also bears some of the responsibility for the lynchings since he was in Monroe a few days before the lynchings “rallying the Ku Klux Klan.” Every year Brooks holds a news conference in front of the Talmadge statue on the Gold Dome lawn to bring attention to the former governor's alleged role in the lynching. Currently, there is a $35,000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest and successful conviction of any of the killers who are still alive.

The timeline for the day's events follow after the break