On September 15, 1963, the KKK in Birmingham, Alabama, carried out a terrorist attack on a Black church. Birmingham was the hub of the Civil Rights movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr. The KKK had a large presence in that city and used it to terrorize activists. Birmingham had so many bombings that it was nicknamed "Bombingham."
The terror attack killed four young girls and injured many others. People protested, and two people were killed as Governor Wallace and the National Guard got involved.
The worst of it is, the FBI knew who was responsible within a couple years of the attack, yet opted not to do anything about it and the four KKK members who were responsible, weren't prosecuted for it until years down the line when politics had changed and they were slowly, over the course of three decades, brought to justice, or they died before they could be bought to justice.
As if being so terrified of having to share power with others that you would kill children to preserve it isn't bad enough, the systems set up to protect all people in this country once again looked out only for white supremacy. On every level, we see white supremacy being protected and promoted.
Sometimes when a bad thing happens, we talk about forgetting the names of the perpetrator because they don't deserve to be remembered. While they don't, their motives do deserve to be remembered. If white people forget our history, then we never have to feel responsible for it or that we benefit from it. We should remember their names. People who know them should know what they did.
And these are the four children who were murdered by the terrorists. They are often shown together in photos, but I thought they deserved to be seen as individual humans, and not just part of a group. Who knows what their lives would be like now if they hadn't been murdered. Friends, family, careers, all ended before they had a chance to begin.
Carol Robertson-14
Here are resources you can check out to learn more about this terror attack:
The reason the FBI never did any true investigation was J Edgar Hoover, who believed that the civil rights movement was just a smokescreen for the Socialists that he campaigned so hard against his whole career.
ReplyDeleteSome sources on Hoover's feelings about the Civil Rights movement:
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/federal-bureau-investigation-fbi
https://www.history.com/news/martin-luther-king-jr-fbi-j-edgar-hoover-communism
https://theconversation.com/j-edgar-hoovers-revenge-information-the-fbi-once-hoped-could-destroy-rev-martin-luther-king-jr-has-been-declassified-118026
Just wanted to add a few more lovely white history facts to your fabulous post. :)
Thank you! Totally feel free to add stuff cuz I know you did a project like this a few years ago and probably studied all this already!
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