“I Know They Went to Heaven”

That is a moving comment by Sarah Collins Rudolph in a recent video I will show you just in a moment.  This is a picture of her, below:

Fifty years ago, on another Sunday, her life and the lives of four of her friends were ripped apart.

Fifty years ago, a racist terrorist planted a bomb in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.  It killed four innocent little girls as they attended Sunday school.  It is important to remember their names: Cynthia Wesley, Denise McNair, Carole Robinson and Addie Mae Collins.  Sarah Rudolph was there too, then known simply as Sarah Collins.  She watched her sister, Addie Mae, die and was grievously injured herself.  If you see one eye pointing in a different direction from the other it is because her right eye is a fake.

You can watch a news report on her, here:

I admit I was moved when she talked of those four little girls being in heaven.  You can watch today’s commemoration of the event, here.  You can read where I talked about the impact the bombings had at the time, how the evil wrought that day backfired on the terrorists, defeating their goals and how I would apply it to modern terrorism, here.  Or you can simply listen to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s powerful eulogy, here:

Eulogy for the Young Victims from Sweet Speeches on Vimeo.

Listen to them from beyond the grave.  Listen to the survivor.  And make sure they did not suffer and die in vain.

Substitute courage for caution.  Stand up to evil, every time.

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Disclaimer:

I have accused some people, particularly Brett Kimberlin, of reprehensible conduct.  In some cases, the conduct is even criminal.  In all cases, the only justice I want is through the appropriate legal process—such as the criminal justice system.  I do not want to see vigilante violence against any person or any threat of such violence.  This kind of conduct is not only morally wrong, but it is counter-productive.

In the particular case of Brett Kimberlin, I do not want you to even contact him.  Do not call him.  Do not write him a letter.  Do not write him an email.  Do not text-message him.  Do not engage in any kind of directed communication.  I say this in part because under Maryland law, that can quickly become harassment and I don’t want that to happen to him.

And for that matter, don’t go on his property.  Don’t sneak around and try to photograph him.  Frankly try not to even be within his field of vision.  Your behavior could quickly cross the line into harassment in that way too (not to mention trespass and other concerns).

And do not contact his organizations, either.  And most of all, leave his family alone.

The only exception to all that is that if you are reporting on this, there is of course nothing wrong with contacting him for things like his official response to any stories you might report.  And even then if he tells you to stop contacting him, obey that request.  That this is a key element in making out a harassment claim under Maryland law—that a person asks you to stop and you refuse.

And let me say something else.  In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe that any person supporting me has done any of the above.  But if any of you have, stop it, and if you haven’t don’t start.