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Question for the current Birmingham residents on Selma, Racism, etc.
What are you opinions news stations in Birmingham continually showing the Bull Connor, the fire hoses, the dogs, etc. The continual mention of the 4 little girls (damn shame Chris McNair tainted the legacy with his corruption conviction).
Does this help move forward or is it holding us back?
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In my opinion it does neither in itself but can lead to either one or both.
The black community does need to have those incidents remembered. This can either be healing or be a further trauma to an old wound. That is in the hands of the one who has suffered. The one who has suffered has as first need to be listened to and not shut down.
White people can help by agreeing that what was done was a terrible injustice and w/o excuse. We can make it worse by a) asking when are you going to get over this and b) saying that it was not so bad since the clubs were not wrapped in barbed wire.
The black community can be greatly harmed by this if they use it as a scape goat to avoid the problems which are a present epidemic in families and young men. (The Rev Al plan)
If it leads to genuine communication across the divide -- w/o hysteria and anger -- it can be positive.
