Fly thro - Birmingham Alabama

I was surprised by my own naivety the first night in Birmingham. I’d come to see the Civil Rights Institute and walk the same ground as people made famous by their stand against segregation – most notably in the 1960s – but also long before and after those pivotal years.

I arrived late afternoon on Saturday. What the Internet never told me about the decent looking and affordable Redmond Hotel was that everything around its CBD location is closed after about 8pm on Friday. A free shuttle to downtown destinations reminded me of Trip Advisor comments that the area might not be too safe at night. It didn’t feel dodgy. I mean, how dangerous can deserted be?

The shuttle driver made an excellent choice dropping me off at a barn sized seafood market and restaurant with fish and lobsters hanging around in tanks til they got chosen and cooked. I couldn’t help but notice that black and white may be eating in the same restaurant, but not at the same table. I felt naive at my own reaction, but reading about events like slavery and the civil rights movement must be like looking at food without ever getting to smell, taste or feel the texture of it. A poor analogy for something of such awful significance, I know.

Next day was the 45^th anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Selma, Alabama where state and local lawmen attacked civil rights marchers demanding the right to vote for black American citizens. I spent the morning in Ingram Park, a local monument to the movement and hanging around 16^th St Baptist church. I had thought of attending the service there but decided it would be arrogant to think I could go there just to satisfy my own curiosity.

It’s hard to try and think inside the minds of the white ‘Christians’ (KKK members) who bombed this church on a quiet Sunday morning in 1963 killing four young black girls. I did try, and in the history of the ‘Magic City’ as Birmingham came to be known in the early days, I think I found some clues. To be continued.