Birmingham’s Civil Rights History Front And Center At Rally For George Floyd
Kelly Ingram Park in downtown Birmingham swelled with people, signs and chants Sunday afternoon for what organizers called a rally for justice and peace in response to the death of George Floyd, who died after being arrested by police in Minneapolis on Monday. The rally, sponsored by the Birmingham mayor’s office and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, came one day after a similar protest and march in Birmingham and Hoover.
Speakers at Sunday’s gathering, which included clergy from a variety of faiths, referenced Birmingham’s history of nonviolent protest during the civil rights movement. They also referenced many names of black men and women who died after incidents with law enforcement.
Eli Benton Cohen,WBHM
Rev. Arthur Price of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham addresses the crowd. The church was the site of a racist bombing that killed four girls in September 1963.
“You ought to be angry about what happened last week,” said Rev. Arthur Price, the pastor of the 16th Baptist Church in Birmingham. “But the question is what are you going to do about it?”
Price told the crowd they should turn anger into advocacy by voting and pushing elected leaders for changes to policing practices. Other speakers called on people to patronize black businesses. Some spoke of whites who seemed indifferent to what some in the African-American community have experienced.
“Dear White America, I ask you who are you?” activist T. Marie King said. “Are you willing to look at your life and be responsible for it and begin to change?”
Several speakers urged the crowd to resist responding with violence as has been seen in many cities across the country. Both Democratic Senator Doug Jones and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin noted Birmingham’s progress since the civil rights era.
Eli Benton Cohen,WBHM
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin
“To say that we as a people are not better off today than we were 50 years ago … that dismisses the sacrifices of the foot soldiers that join us today,” Woodfin said.
Woofin called Birmingham the “blueprint” for a nation divided by race, adding “the enemy is not each other.”
Jackie Freeman, who traveled from Tuscumbia, Ala., for Saturday’s protest and Sunday’s rally, said as an African American mother, some of the police violence against black men captured on video made her think of her two sons. She said she’s thinking more carefully about how she spends her money and how she spends her time.
“You can’t just sit back and Facebook protest and expect things to change,” Freeman said.
Auburn University student Allison Sharp expressed similar feelings about the limits of social media posts. Sharp, who is white, said this was the first rally she had attended.
“I definitely learned the power of the dollar, “Sharp said. “I never really thought to shop specifically at black-owned business. I’ve just thought about donating to nonprofits.”
As Sharp left with a group of friends, they were thinking of black-owned restaurants where they could pick up dinner.
Inflation cools slightly in November as worries about affordability grip Americans
The cost of living in November was up 2.7% from a year ago, according to a report Thursday from the Labor Department. That's a smaller annual increase than for the 12 months ending in September.
New York has a new Archbishop. His background looks a lot like Pope Leo’s
Like Pope Leo, Bishop Ronald Hicks is an Illinois native with deep experience in Latin America.
Could international troops be sent to Gaza? Here’s why Trump’s plan hinges on it
President Trump's peace plan for Gaza hinges on international troops in Gaza, but Israel is skeptical and no country has yet agreed to send their soldiers.
RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz to announce moves to ban gender-affirming care for young people
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to announce a package of measures that would together ban gender-affirming care for minors. A press conference is set for 11 a.m. Thursday.
A new ‘Avatar,’ a marital stand-up story and a gut-wrenching drama are in theaters
A new drama uses the real, gut-wrenching recordings of a call for help from Gaza to tell a harrowing and profound story.
20 years later, Waveland’s letters to Santa tell stories of recovery from Hurricane Katrina
More than a thousand letters were written and answered after the hurricane. They’re now housed in an exhibit at the Ground Zero Hurricane Katrina Museum.
