Martin Luther King
called it "one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated
against humanity."
Four white supremacists choking on the vomit of ignorance and hatred used 15 sticks of dynamite to bomb Birmingham, AL's 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963. They murdered four little girls - Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair - and injured 22 other innocent people.
Four white supremacists choking on the vomit of ignorance and hatred used 15 sticks of dynamite to bomb Birmingham, AL's 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963. They murdered four little girls - Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair - and injured 22 other innocent people.
The murders enraged
John Coltrane, as they would any thoughtful, decent person. The trouble
was - and still is, in some parts - that other people cheered the bombing and
encouraged more of it.
Coltrane's tune "Alabama"
(5:09) is as melancholy and mournful as it is defiant and determined. His tenor
sax provides a constant elegiac theme throughout. It's joined at first by a
piano underneath that seems to offer a pulsating, almost ticking sound. The
keys give way to drums and percussion that simulate explosions before quieting
back down. The song debuted on Coltrane's Live at Birdland (April
1964). It is truly moving. Watch it below with Coltrane's Classic Quartet featuring McCoy Tyner (piano), Elvin Jones (drums) and Jimmy Garrison (bass).
The four murderous
Klansmen were well known in Birmingham but never took the rap, except one of
them on one count. In 2001, however, the heroic actions of attorney Doug Jones
put the two living murderers in prison for life. Many Alabamans applauded
justice delivered albeit delayed, though some despised Jones - then and now -
for doing so.
Doug Jones is running
for US Senate in Alabama. One week from today, Alabamans will choose the
distinguished Jones or his hideously malevolent opponent, Roy Moore.
Moore is a
hate-filled little man with a long trail of racism, sexism, anti-Semitism,
religious intolerance and homophobia. He was twice removed from the AL Supreme
Court for breaking the law.
More recently, of
course, he's been accused of sexual harassment, sexual abuse and child
molestation. Yesterday, he was heartily endorsed by the President of the United
States of America whose own long history of racism, sexism, intolerance and
mendacity as well as years of credible sexual-assault allegations are a matter
of record - and shame.
I hope Jones defeats
the noxious Moore, though I worry he will not prevail. While many good
Alabamans loathe Moore and everything for which he stands, what if there are
just not enough of them?
Who are we as a
people? How far have we evolved as a species? For answers to these questions, as Coltrane put it in one of his
signature tunes, "I'll Wait and Pray."
Image courtesy of You Tube/roger b