We are a group of girls, ages 12 to 15, who belong to a Junior Youth Group.  We call ourselves the Dreamcatchers.

We are kids, but we also are involved in service projects, and we are encouraged to have elevated and meaningful conversations.

The most recent conversation was about the "Hanging Tree" in Brooksville.  A couple of us heard about it from our parents, but we asked our JYG Animator some questions about it.  

We took a ride out to Brooksville Courthouse, and we noticed some things that really bothered us.  Like, why are there signs for the statue and the county, but nothing for the tree?  This is a letter that we dictated to our Animator to send to the Mayor of Brooksville, but then we decided to do it this way, too:

Dear Mayor Erhard:

We are a junior youth group in Hernando County.  We took a trip to the courthouse and noticed a majestic tree.  We asked our Youth Group Animator questions about that tree.  She explained this is where lynchings happened 100 yrs. ago.  That might sound like a long time ago, but there are people who are 100 yrs. old and were alive when this was going on.

Did you know that there are a lot of people, especially kids, who don't know anything about this tree?  That just doesn't seem fair.  It is very sad, and we wish nothing bad ever happened here, but it did.  And it is history.  Everyone should know about it.  So, we are asking you to please bring awareness to this beautiful tree.

We would like you to consider putting up a sign or plaque by the tree to help educate local people as well as tourists.  We have other ideas, too, like a memorial garden by the tree, but we think it is most important to have a sign, telling everyone about the whole story.

You can contact our Youth Animator if you need to talk to us.

Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

Shyann, Zion, Leilah, and Shondra