Birmingham Remembers Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney
Mourners gathered at New Beginning Christian Ministry in east Birmingham Sunday to remember the life of Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney. The 3-year-old was abducted while attending a birthday party at the Tom Brown Village public housing apartments on Oct. 12. Authorities days later found her remains in a Birmingham-area landfill.
Gigi Douban
One of many mourners at Sunday’s funeral wearing clothes bearing Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney’s image.
On Sunday, people formed a line that wrapped around the church to attend the girl’s funeral. Hundreds packed the sanctuary and an overflow room. Many came wearing t-shirts and buttons bearing Kamille’s image.
The service included tributes from family members, faith leaders and city officials. “We don’t know, oh Lord, how we got here,” Rev. Alvelyn Sanders said in an impassioned prayer from the pulpit. “But we know something happened in our lives. There was a baby named Kamille who made us all stop and check ourselves.”
New Beginning Pastor Sylvester Wilson urged people not to try to understand why Kamille was kidnapped and killed. She died of asphyxiation by suffocation the same day she disappeared, according to arrest warrants.
He confessed that as a father and grandfather, processing her death has been difficult. “I realize that I’m a man of God and I realize that I’m the pastor of this church,” he said, “but I don’t know how I would feel if that happened to one of mine. I told my wife that I’m not afraid that I wouldn’t be the pastor of this church, but I might be an inmate pastor.” He struggled, he told the congregation, he struggled to make sense of her death. But he said her slaying had a unifying force. “People don’t understand that what you see here had to happen so that God could bring this city, this country, and this world back together again,” he said.
A man and woman were charged in Kamille’s death.
Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ wins top prize at Venice Film Festival
Jim Jarmusch's quietly humorous relationship triptych won the top prize on Saturday. The film about the relationships between siblings, and with their parents, stars Adam Driver, Vicky Krieps and Cate Blanchett.
ICE arrests at a Georgia Hyundai plant create new tension with South Korea
South Korea's foreign minister is considering a trip to the U.S. to meet with the Trump administration after hundreds of South Koreans were arrested in Georgia at an electric vehicle battery plant.
Davey Johnson, who won 2 World Series with Orioles, managed Mets to title, dies at 82
Davey Johnson, an All-Star second baseman who won the World Series twice with the Baltimore Orioles as a player and managed the New York Mets to the title in 1986, died Friday.
Ken Dryden, Hall of Fame goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, dies at age 78
Dryden backstopped the NHL's most successful franchise to championships in six of his eight seasons in the league from 1970-71 to '78-79. He died after a fight with cancer.
‘Twinless’ is a dark comedy that doubles up on the twists
Dylan O'Brien and James Sweeney craft a kind of chemistry that is equal parts funny and heart-wrenching.
Russ & Daughters in NYC celebrates ‘100 years of appetizing’ and family
At Russ & Daughters, it takes three months to learn how to slice salmon. NPR's Scott Simon visits the 100 year-old appetizing store to try his hand at the fine art and talk about their new cookbook.
