From 4 little girls to “the audacity of hope” (op-ed)
Ancient drama was accompanied by a chorus. The chorus commented on the dramatic action depicted on stage.
For this tragedy the chorus is the community.
Their refrain, “I hope they get caught.”
On May 2, 1963 in Birmingham Alabama over 1,000 children left school, met at the 16th Street Baptist Church, marched down town, and 600 were arrested.
The national press was shocked. It was called the children’s crusade.
Federal authorities were angered by the arrest but more appalled by the tactic. The use of children in civil rights demonstrations was irresponsible, some civil rights advocates agreed.
But the children’s crusade continued for three days.
These demonstrations led to an agreement between all concerned parties to integrate Birmingham’s public facilities and schools within 90 days.
The agreement was opposed by segregationist and when the deadline for integration approached bombs detonated across Birmingham. This was nothing new, there were 21 bombings of black properties in the 8 years prior to 1963, and remarkably no one was killed in these explosions. That changed two weeks after the historic March on Washington when the 16th Street Baptist church was bombed and 4 little girls were killed. (Condoleezza Rice was childhood friends with one of the victims)
The newly elected mayor of Birmingham, a moderate, described the event as, “Just sickening.” And this leader of Birmingham’s moderate chorus, who believed in gradual change, probably said, “I hope they get caught.”
But between the 1940’s and 1960’s there were 50 unsolved bombings. (It would take decades to get convictions for the murderers of the 4 little girls)
Civil rights leaders blame the segregationist governor of Alabama for creating a climate of hate that led to the bombing. Martin Luther King Jr. had a different take. He said, “What murdered these four girls? The apathy and complacency of many Negroes who will sit … And not engage in creative protest to get rid of this evil.”
In 2004 Condoleezza Rice recalled the bombing. She said, “It was meant to suck the hope out of young lives, bury their aspirations, and ensure that old fears would be propelled forward into the next generation.”
But now the problem isn’t unsolved bombings it’s unsolved homicides.
Recently in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania 4 black woman and a black man were murdered in an ambush style killing.
One of the women was 8 months pregnant.
The county district attorney said, “The murders were planned, calculated, brutal.” A .40-caliber and an AK-47 were used; officers removed 48 shell casings from the scene. The district attorney continued, “We haven’t seen something like this for quite some time, if we’ve ever seen something like this.” He barely looked at the television camera. He was distraught and overwhelmed.
Was it because a mother lost her adult children?
Was it because a possible girl or boy was aborted by bullets?
Was it the fact that “the rates at which homicides are considered cleared -- meaning someone was actually arrested and handed over to the courts for trial have declined alarmingly in America?”
Or was it the totality of the three combined with the fact that community/police cooperation is at an all time low which creates a climate where people who have no value for life feel they can get away with murder?
Afterwards at a community meeting an organizer said, “We have ‘regular’ homicides. This, to me, was not normal. It sickened the officers who responded.”
Back in 1963 I wonder if there was a meeting of moderates and one rationalized, “We have regular bombings in Birmingham but this church bombing wasn’t normal.”
And the community chorus said, “I hope they get caught.”
I wonder if Obama’s aware he even inspired apathy to have the audacity of hope.
First published in New Pittsburgh Courier 3/16/16
For this tragedy the chorus is the community.
Their refrain, “I hope they get caught.”
***
On May 2, 1963 in Birmingham Alabama over 1,000 children left school, met at the 16th Street Baptist Church, marched down town, and 600 were arrested.
The national press was shocked. It was called the children’s crusade.
Federal authorities were angered by the arrest but more appalled by the tactic. The use of children in civil rights demonstrations was irresponsible, some civil rights advocates agreed.
But the children’s crusade continued for three days.
These demonstrations led to an agreement between all concerned parties to integrate Birmingham’s public facilities and schools within 90 days.
The agreement was opposed by segregationist and when the deadline for integration approached bombs detonated across Birmingham. This was nothing new, there were 21 bombings of black properties in the 8 years prior to 1963, and remarkably no one was killed in these explosions. That changed two weeks after the historic March on Washington when the 16th Street Baptist church was bombed and 4 little girls were killed. (Condoleezza Rice was childhood friends with one of the victims)
The newly elected mayor of Birmingham, a moderate, described the event as, “Just sickening.” And this leader of Birmingham’s moderate chorus, who believed in gradual change, probably said, “I hope they get caught.”
But between the 1940’s and 1960’s there were 50 unsolved bombings. (It would take decades to get convictions for the murderers of the 4 little girls)
Civil rights leaders blame the segregationist governor of Alabama for creating a climate of hate that led to the bombing. Martin Luther King Jr. had a different take. He said, “What murdered these four girls? The apathy and complacency of many Negroes who will sit … And not engage in creative protest to get rid of this evil.”
In 2004 Condoleezza Rice recalled the bombing. She said, “It was meant to suck the hope out of young lives, bury their aspirations, and ensure that old fears would be propelled forward into the next generation.”
But now the problem isn’t unsolved bombings it’s unsolved homicides.
Recently in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania 4 black woman and a black man were murdered in an ambush style killing.
One of the women was 8 months pregnant.
The county district attorney said, “The murders were planned, calculated, brutal.” A .40-caliber and an AK-47 were used; officers removed 48 shell casings from the scene. The district attorney continued, “We haven’t seen something like this for quite some time, if we’ve ever seen something like this.” He barely looked at the television camera. He was distraught and overwhelmed.
Was it because a mother lost her adult children?
Was it because a possible girl or boy was aborted by bullets?
Was it the fact that “the rates at which homicides are considered cleared -- meaning someone was actually arrested and handed over to the courts for trial have declined alarmingly in America?”
Or was it the totality of the three combined with the fact that community/police cooperation is at an all time low which creates a climate where people who have no value for life feel they can get away with murder?
Afterwards at a community meeting an organizer said, “We have ‘regular’ homicides. This, to me, was not normal. It sickened the officers who responded.”
Back in 1963 I wonder if there was a meeting of moderates and one rationalized, “We have regular bombings in Birmingham but this church bombing wasn’t normal.”
***
And the community chorus said, “I hope they get caught.”
I wonder if Obama’s aware he even inspired apathy to have the audacity of hope.
First published in New Pittsburgh Courier 3/16/16
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