Another Sad September Anniversary We Should Never Forget

Terrorism • Views: 36,133

Four precious young lives cut short by hate.

External Image

Three of the girls were 14 years old, the other was 11. Had they not been brutally murdered they’d all be in their 60s today. They most likely would’ve had children and grandchildren by now, maybe even great grandchildren. Who knows what any one of them or their descendants might have gone on to accomplish?

Twenty-two other people were also injured that day. The case remained unsolved until 1971, when Bill Baxley was elected Attorney General of Alabama. He reopened it after requesting the original FBI files on the case and discovering that evidence had been withheld from prosecutors by order of J. Edgar Hoover. The case wasn’t brought to court until November 1977.

There’s also a good Twitter recounting of events via NPR’s @TodayIn1963’s timeline:

[…]

H/T @AdamSerwer

Also See
Newseum: Front page of The Indianapolis Star—9/16/63 (also available as PDF)

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41 comments
1 bratwurst  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:30:16am

How long until some nitwit says something like:

The men behind this bombing were DEMOCRATS!

2 Eclectic Cyborg  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:34:13am

re: #1 bratwurst

Even more scary is that many of the RWNJs would probably have no issue committing a similar act today on a Mosque or an Abortion clinic or a half a dozen other places.

Fifty years onward and still hate abounds.

3 CuriousLurker  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:35:12am

Thanks for the Page promotion, Charles. I think this is an important story to remember.

4 Charles Johnson  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:35:39am

re: #1 bratwurst

How long until some nitwit says something like:

The men behind this bombing were DEMOCRATS!

I’ve seen right wingers tweeting exactly that.

5 A Mom Anon  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:37:00am

re: #1 bratwurst

Ack. How hard is it for these freaks to understand that the racists go where the racism IS? Kinda like flies to garbage. Political parties change over time, that’s how the world works.

I was just a little kid when this happened, so I don’t really remember it much. We’ve come a long way in 50 yrs, but there is much more work to do. I wish there wasn’t, but there is. I was truly hoping we’d be past most of this bullshit by now and maybe be on our 3rd or 4th minority president, along with a woman or two having held the office by now. We really haven’t grown up enough yet as a country. A couple more generations maybe? I truly hope so. I’d like to see us be over this nonsense before I leave this life.

6 Stanley Sea  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:37:48am

1977 before case brought to court.

No justice.

7 Romantic Heretic  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:40:09am

re: #2 Eclectic Cyborg

Even more scary is that many of the RWNJs would probably have no issue committing a similar act today on a Mosque or an Abortion clinic or a half a dozen other places.

Fifty years onward and still hate abounds.

Myself? I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of these incidents. I expected that the U.S. would be like parts of Europe in the 70s. Say Spain when the some of the Basques were fanatical about independence, or Germany when the Red Army Faction was active.

I’m very glad that hasn’t been the case.

8 scottslemmons  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:43:48am

The more I learn about J. Edgar Hoover, the more I wish he’d died in impossible agony.

9 Decatur Deb  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:46:04am

re: #7 Romantic Heretic

Myself? I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of these incidents. I expected that the U.S. would be like parts of Europe in the 70s. Say Spain when the some of the Basques were fanatical about independence, or Germany when the Red Army Faction was active.

I’m very glad that hasn’t been the case.

Get back to us if unemployment hits 20-25%.

10 Eclectic Cyborg  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:47:13am

re: #7 Romantic Heretic

As am I, but I worry that it’s just going to take one match to light the keg.

11 CuriousLurker  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:47:23am

re: #2 Eclectic Cyborg

Even more scary is that many of the RWNJs would probably have no issue committing a similar act today on a Mosque or an Abortion clinic or a half a dozen other places.

Fifty years onward and still hate abounds.

THIS. This is exactly what I was just thinking. What bothers me the most about it is that it was us killing our own children.

Remember when President Obama said that Trayvon could’ve been him, could’ve been his son? I think that’s sort of what he was getting at. People killed by fear or hate could be anyone: me, you, my kid, your kid—whoever is considered “other” and therefore potentially dangerous and/or less than human (LGBTs, Blacks, Asians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, the mentally ill, the intellectually or physically disabled, etc.)

12 psddluva4evah  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:47:26am

Rev Martin Luther King’s Eulogy for the Birmingham 4

huffingtonpost.com

13 urbanmeemaw  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:54:42am

Thanks for posting this, Charles.

14 OhNoZombies!  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:58:44am

These girls were my mothers age, which means that we aren’t so far removed from the values that lead to the bombing in the first place.
I hate to even acknowledge this.

15 celticdragon  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:59:00am

re: #3 CuriousLurker

Thanks for the Page promotion, Charles. I think this is an important story to remember.

Yes.

God rest those four young women, and all the other people killed by hate.

16 Charles Johnson  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:59:19am

re: #13 urbanmeemaw

Thanks for posting this, Charles.

You’re welcome, and thanks to CuriousLurker for writing it.

17 celticdragon  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 11:59:58am

re: #14 OhNoZombies!

These girls were my mothers age, which means that we aren’t so far removed from the values that lead to the bombing in the first place.
I hate to even acknowledge this.

It was three years before I was born. Not very far removed from me at all.

18 Political Atheist  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:00:37pm

I’m not a big twitter fan, I use it to communicate with one or two friends, and to promote good threads from here or my Pages. That’s about it.

CL-Congrats on a well deserved promotion of you page! Which reminds me=
On a previous occasion, CL and I started using #pushback meaning to push back with the written word on haters and hate. Maybe that’s not the right phrase exactly, but I’d love to see a hashtag become associated with the idea.

19 Absalom, Absalom, Obdicut  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:01:53pm

This same hate is still with us today. We have not moved past it. There are still white people who plot the death of blacks for asserting equality and for demanding integration.

seattletimes.com

If the bomb had not been discovered, there would have been mass casualties. As much as I’m glad that it was, I wish more people remembered that this happened, especially in light of the Boston bombing.

In addition, the man who did this was motivated by the book of William Pierce, who wrote The Turner Diaries. It’s good to remember that words are not just words, that free speech comes with the dangers of radicalization and inspiration to murder. The crazy and racist opinions of people like Limbaugh, Beck, Bachmann, and Rep. Steve King, the lies and demonization of the other, are part of the structure that allows and inspires horrific shit like this.

20 CuriousLurker  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:04:07pm

re: #17 celticdragon

It was three years before I was born. Not very far removed from me at all.

I was 1 year old. Speaking of sad anniversaries, just over one month later JFK would be assassinated. Not a very good year, 1963.

21 darthstar  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:05:44pm
22 Political Atheist  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:07:35pm

re: #6 Stanley Sea

1977 before case brought to court.

No justice.

Your comment got me searching a bit, to my personal embarrassment I had forgotten about the trials. At least this time we did get convictions, if long delayed.
The bold is mine, as a lesson to our L.E officials. Keep it legal or look what happens.

en.wikipedia.org

FBI investigations gathered evidence pointing to four suspects: Robert Chambliss, Thomas E. Blanton Jr, Herman Cash, and Bobby Frank Cherry. According to a later report from the Bureau, “By 1965, we had serious suspects—namely, Robert E. Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank Cash, and Thomas E. Blanton, Jr., all KKK members—but witnesses were reluctant to talk and physical evidence was lacking. Also, at that time, information from our surveillances was not admissible in court. As a result, no federal charges were filed in the ’60s.”[11] Although Chambliss was convicted on an explosives charge, no convictions were obtained in the 1960s for the killings.

Alabama Attorney General William Baxley reopened the investigation after he took office in 1971, requesting evidence from the FBI and building trust with key witnesses who had been reluctant to testify in the first trial. The prosecutor had been a student at the University of Alabama when he heard about the bombing in 1963. “I wanted to do something, but I didn’t know what.”[22]

In 1977 former Ku Klux Klansman Robert “Dynamite Bob” Chambliss was indicted in the murder of all four girls, tried and convicted of the first-degree murder of Denise McNair, and sentenced to life in prison. He died eight years later in prison.[23]

Thomas E. Blanton, Jr. was tried in 2001 and found guilty at age 62 of four counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.[24]

Herman Cash died in 1994 without having been charged. Bobby Frank Cherry, also a former Klansman, was indicted in 2001 along with Blanton. Judge James Garrett of Jefferson County Circuit Court ruled “that Mr. Cherry’s trial would be delayed indefinitely because a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation concluded that he was mentally incompetent.”[25] He was later convicted in 2002, sentenced to life in prison, and died in 2004.[26]

23 Decatur Deb  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:15:07pm

Much as I like to pick on my state of residence, we got one decent hero out of the tragedy, Bill Baxley:

“In a letter, the Klan threatened him, compared him to John F. Kennedy, and made him an “honorary n*****,” but Baxley responded, on official state letterhead: “My response to your letter of February 19, 1976, is—kiss my ass.”[1][2][3]

Image: 8219916147_849f583783_o.png
en.wikipedia.org

24 Paul Canning  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:18:26pm

This is really interesting > We all did it: The speech that shocked Birmingham the day after the church bombing bit.ly

Also, picked this up fro the comments >

Three days later, just hours after attending the funeral for three of the four girls, it was Rosh Hashanah. Rabbi Milton Grafman, who was caught in the middle of a lot of the events, gave a blistering 40-minute message with many of the same themes, and during the Kaddish (memorial prayer) spoke of the four girls, for whose deaths the city must atone.
sjlmag.com

25 Justanotherhuman  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:19:13pm

The timeline of bringing Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry in the Sixteenth St Baptist Church bombing and killings to justice; a collection of news stories.

fold3.com

Cherry died in prison in prison, age 74, in 2004, after being convicted. Thomas Blanton, convicted in 1997, still remains at St. Clair Correctional, serving a life sentence; he is 83 yrs old. Robert Chambliss was convicted in 1977 and died in prison, and Herman Frank Cash, who was also linked to the bombing, died in 1994, untried.

26 Justanotherhuman  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:24:47pm

Anyone in this area?

Power Outage In South Bay Impacts Tens Of Thousands Of SCE Customers

losangeles.cbslocal.com

“Officials cautioned that the outages were affecting traffic signals in Lawndale, Gardena, Torrance, among other areas. Drivers were reminded to treat those intersections as 4-way stops.

“For some time, more than 115,000 customers were left without power. As of 12 p.m., a total of 86,105 Los Angeles County customers were being impacted by the 25 remaining outages, according to Edison’s outage map.”

27 Political Atheist  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:31:37pm

re: #26 Justanotherhuman

Um, heh they may not be able to respond at this time…

28 jhrhv  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:34:13pm

There is no resolving how someone can think they are a good possibly religious person in one thought yet in another think their God wants them to go bomb/murder a church full of people. How do you reconcile that in your head? I just don’t know. Beyond shocking, beyond words, beyond logic. These people are morally and ethically bankrupt they are monsters.

Why can’t they learn that we are all the same aside from the possibly stupid and violent things you carry around in your head that have been implanted there by some kind of nut like a preacher or hate pusher.

29 Eclectic Cyborg  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:38:40pm

re: #27 Political Atheist

Cell phones might still be working.

30 CuriousLurker  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:39:48pm

re: #24 Paul Canning

This is really interesting > We all did it: The speech that shocked Birmingham the day after the church bombing bit.ly

That’s basically what I was getting at in my #11 when I said “it was us killing our own children.” Whenever we behave in a bigoted manner towards anyone, then we’re contributing to the hate—hate which may come around in another variant one day and hurt someone we love. Remaining silent when confronted with an injustice is also a form of bigotry (IMO), albeit a passive one.

What’s that quote about evil also being when good men remain silent…? That.

31 Eclectic Cyborg  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:40:58pm

re: #28 jhrhv

Part of me wants to say it was more about the targets than the church. I’m sure if they could have set the bomb off in a shopping mall or school they could have done that too but most churches (especially on Sunday) are relatively easy to access and have little to no security.

I think they chose it just because they knew it would be easy to pull off.

Coincidentally, both today and the date of the bombing 50 years ago were Sundays.

32 Political Atheist  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:44:15pm

re: #29 Eclectic Cyborg

Cell phones might still be working.

True, but my Samsung on android does not do LGF well, even with FF. Lurks ok but posting? Ugh.

33 jhrhv  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:45:22pm

re: #31 Eclectic Cyborg

Very sad. Posts like this one make me sad for our species.

34 CuriousLurker  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:46:52pm

Okay, I’ve done my good deed for the day, so I’m gonna go do something fun now to try to chase away the sadness of this story. Later, lizards.

35 Decatur Deb  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:48:38pm

re: #33 jhrhv

Pencil.

36 wrenchwench  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:54:49pm

re: #30 CuriousLurker

What’s that quote about evil also being when good men remain silent…? That .

Your paraphrase is better than the quote. Attributed to Burke:

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

If they’re doing nothing, they are not good men.

37 Stanley Sea  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 12:56:11pm

re: #34 CuriousLurker

Okay, I’ve done my good deed for the day, so I’m gonna go do something fun now to try to chase away the sadness of this story. Later, lizards.

Ha, I’m reading about fashion week. Yin and yang.

38 Eclectic Cyborg  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 1:02:32pm

re: #32 Political Atheist

I have similar issues with my Galaxy SIII. I mentioned it to Charles before. LGF runs perfectly smooth on my Ipad.

39 jhrhv  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 1:09:16pm

I haven’t tried posting on LGF with my Samsung Note. Just lurk occasionally but I have tried a few browsers Dolphin, Opera, built in and Chrome.

Chrome by far works better than anything else I’ve tried on Android. Not really a surprise. It’s the only one I use now. That might work better with LGF and posting.

40 urbanmeemaw  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 6:19:15pm

re: #13 urbanmeemaw

Thank you also, Curious Lurker. This is the second time I’ve misread the name of a poster. Yikes. I will attribute it to old age. Sigh.

41 Flavia  Sun, Sep 15, 2013 8:40:33pm

Thanks for the reminder, even if it makes me miserable. It should make everyone miserable!!


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