We Don’t Meet People By Accident

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Posted by: Steve Hardwick
Date: Jan 03 2019 9:32 PM

“ We Don’t Meet People By Accident.
They Are Meant To Cross Our Path
For A Reason “

Wesley Johnson was just 19 years old.
A young black teenager living in Henry County, Alabama.

He was lynched from the Henry County Jail
Shot several times
A rope was tied around Wesley’s neck.

Wesley Johnson was found hanging from a tree by his family the next day.

His mother that morning was putting clothes on a clothes line when she was told she needed to go straight home. She put down the basket of clothes and said...

“ They Killed My Baby Didn’t They? “

After being buried in a unmarked grave for 80 years I contacted James Johnson ,a relative of Wesleys, and asked him if I could place a headstone on Wesley’s grave.

At first he was skeptical asking....
“ Why would you want to do that for someone you don’t even know? “

I explained to him how it has bothered me ever since I was first told about the lynching several years ago and that when the Angel Of Hope Statue was dedicated in 2016 I said at the ceremony that the Angel was to remember...

All Our Children Loved, Missed And Remembered

And that included Wesley Johnson who was murdered almost 80 years ago.

Finally after all of those years being in a unmarked grave I was given the permission to place a headstone on his grave.

And so that was where our paths crossed James Johnson’s path and mine...

and from that day I knew I had just met a great friend for life.

We never know where our paths will lead us
So be ready...because someday your path will cross with a total stranger and who knows ...
Y’all may become great friends too.

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