Alyson Vikstrom

#27 7C

February 21

While the World Watched

Have you ever noticed the sinful things around the world? The injustices, the bombings, the hatred, the racism. The world is full of hate and jealousy. We are imperfect and still struggle with the right way to handle situations. As 7th grade at ZCS, we had the opportunity to read the book “While the World Watched” By Carolyn Maull Mckinstry. The autobiography explains what it is like to live in Birmingham, Alabama, since the 1940s. Carolyn lived through and experienced what is what like for colored people to live in the southern part of the U.S. She had a difficult childhood and even bringing the memories with her caused a difficult adulthood. She was part of the children’s march that happened on May 2 and 3, 1963. The bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church (killing her four friends, Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and caused  Addie Collins  little sister (Sarah Collins) to lose 70% of sight in one eye and lose the other entirely) on September 15 at 10:22 am. She had to endure much more than she should have. This shows how bad it was in the 1940s and henceforth. It is still happening in the world today.  We can not get rid of it, but we can start help changing it for the better. “One day at a time and one act of kindness at a time-we can heal the world. We must stop watching and begin healing.” (McKinstry- While the World watched page:286). It is time to stop watching and finally take action!

Throughout Carolyn’s life, she has experienced racism and hatred. After the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, she has truly seen the injustice, the hatred. She asked questions that she shouldn’t have asked at a young age, or really any age. “Is this going to continue?” “ Will this wave of killing and bombs ever end?”(Mckinstry- While the World Watched page:71) “Just how much influence will this man (George Wallace)  have on on our black population?” (McKinstry- While the World Watched- page:86). Bombings and death due to racial injustice was part of normal daily life in her community and in the world. After the/a death(s) the black community continued with their everyday life. How could you do that? People, who believe in the same “stuff” that you do? Imagine what it would be like to have your church bomb and your friends killed and have to move on with your life. How could you bare it? These were not just random people, they could be friends or family, neighbors or people who go to church with you. It breaks my heart to know what happened to Carolyn on September 15,1963. If anything breaks my heart the most is how we treat others. Our world looks down on people of all color, religion, and their personality. We judge others by how they appear to be but we never take our time to get to know them a little better. By judging others it changes our perspective on others and changes our actions towards a certain person. In this autobiography, the people judged others by their skin. The white people treated the black people like crap… The Ku Klux Klan also known as the KKK bombed or killed them if they stood up and told how mistreated they were. They even killed white people who defend the black people by standing up with them for their rights. The Ku Klux Klan is a group of white people who believe in segregation. They killed anyone who stood up to stop the racial injustice. They believe in keeping colored and white people separate…

Like thousands of kids in the 1960s, Carolyn was part of the Children’s March. The Children’s March is one of the Civil Rights movements. The Children’s March was, of course, means children marched on May two and three. So what the big deal? You may ask. Let me tell you… The Children’s March, as you know, is of course done by children in Birmingham, Alabama. The children marched for their freedom, for their communities freedom. Any march without a permit was technically illegal. Dr. King asked permission to march but his request was declined. (Dr. King was one of the most famous leaders in the Civil Rights Movements. One of his famous speeches was “I have a Dream” ). Dr. King then got some people into Sixteenth Baptist Church and told them about the plan to peacefully protest. The most of the adults were hesitant because in percisapating they could lose their job, house, family, and they could die themselves. The kids started to stand up and volunteer themselves for this cause. They were being brave and taking a chance to stand up for what they believe in. They were willing to go the drama; go through whatever lies ahead of them. This proves that no matter of the age or size you can make a big difference. It also proves the influence that kids have. Dr. King was nervous about having kids go and march down the roads.  He warned them that they might go to jail… but they were still willing to go. Word spread out to the black community, especially the kids.They didn’t want to let the white community to know so they used code words to keep the black community informed and to leave the white community with questions. D-Day was what they were calling the day when they marched. Once the day finally arrived the students were all at school and car drove past with a person holding a sign that read “It’s Time.” As if that was their cue they all started to get out of the windows, doors… any possible exit. All those kids; all those children; all of those adolescents started to head towards the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.  Once they got to the church they were sorted out in groups of 50 or so to march down the streets of Birmingham. Once they got arrested they sent another 50 and another and another… Eventually, the started hauling kids over to jail in school buses. The jail kept on overflowing so some of them to Kidde Land to where the animals were kept. (Kidde Land was an amusement park for white people only). By the second day, the fireman came and sprayed water at them from their heavy duty hoses. They let the dogs out… Lots of kids were injured or died by the power of the hose and the dogs. They still kept on singing for their freedom; for communities freedom…

You may ask why this is important? What does it matter now? You might think that it happened a long time ago and now no one does it… NO! That is not the case. This world is imperfect and so are we. We think we are better than someone else… That we might not take drugs or killed anyone that we are better than the person who did those things. God loves us all colored or not, Christian or not, he loves us all. He may not be proud of what we done… We might sin a lot and fall short from God but he won’t abandon us! God created us with our own talents. We get to choose how we use them but we should use them to reflect God. He forgives us constantly and expects us to do the same. Carolyn buried the sorrow and pain that she had experienced over the years. She started to take drugs to help her with the pain but she realized that it was doing more harm to her than it was to those who murdered her friends. She prayed to God to lead her back on the right path. She chose to forgive those who done her wrong. Same with Carol (who works at the underground station and it’s touring). They set his house on fire and his son was in there but he got out and was shaken up but okay. They could have killed his son… and when he heard Carolyn’s story he decided to forgive those people who burned his house. The power of forgiveness is strong!

The world isn’t perfect it is full of sin and hatred. People always think they are right but they need to see it from some else’s point of view. God created us out of love so that we can love others. The racial injustice is still in the world and the disrespect for others. We can not get rid of it, but we can start help changing it for the better.“One day at a time and one act of kindness at a time-we can heal the world. We must stop watching and begin healing.” (McKinstry- While the World watched page:286). It is time to stop watching and finally take action!

Cite(s):

McKinstry, Carolyn Maull. While The World Watched. Tyndale, 2011.