What:

What happened in Birmingham. That would take years to write it all out. The shortened version of it is… In the South even after the war there was segregation. Segregation is when people are treated more highly or less because of their ethnicity. This story was one of a young girl, Carolyn. She was involved in many things in those days. She was in 16th Street Baptist Church when it happened. She also went to the Children’s March. She was mentally disturbed and depressed by these events even in her later years. She sat through one of the trials of the bombers who killed her friends. What stood out to me was that people could degrade others and think less of them because of their skin color I thought America was home of the free and the brave. I guess not. The segregation did not end there it may not seem that way but there are many active groups that feel that whites are higher than others.

So What:

I learned that we are a messed up race and world. The only reason that we go to Heaven is because of God. The lesson in this book is that people need to adapt more easily. And we need to forgive because she forgave those men who scared her and killed her friends. This is important because it is a lesson that should never be forgotten. Even though history tends to repeat itself. I hope that this never happens ever again. This is a racist world and maybe it will maybe it won’t but one wrong person and we could have another civil war on our hands but without military, people who think it’s wrong versus those who think it’s right. If it happened, whose side would you be one.

What Now:

I think differently now when I look at other people and realize that there is a lot more to others than what meets the eye. If I saw her on the street I would not recognize her before now I know her story and I would not look at her with pity. I would look at her and see strength. My response is that we are all children of God. And everyone is equal it is so hard to comprehend what she went through and I can’t imagine it. This bothers me and my parents were alive at this time but I have not heard one story about it either they did not know or it wasn’t a big deal in the North at the time. What I hope is that people remember and think about it hundreds of years later and reflect on it. This is something that should never be forgotten. The KKK still exists today and they still kill people just fewer and less often. This needs to end.