This Just In – In a Birmingham, Alabama church a terrible thing happened and a beautiful, inspiring thing came behind it.
In September of 1963 the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four little girls who were inside the building and injuring about 20 more outside. That event certainly scarred that community in a permanent fashion. Most of us old enough to remember it cannot hear “Birmingham Alabama” and not thing of a racist act that stole the futures of four children.
Those children would be in their 70s now … grandmothers, probably but their young lives were brutally stolen and their contributions to Birmingham were lost in the mystic.
But about a month ago, their memories were honored and some of their joy returned to be among us. The Birmingham Youth Fellowship Choir auditioned on America’s Got Talent. Choir Director Ahkeem Lee explained that about 10 years ago, he started the singing group for a fundraiser to make money for school supplies.
Their concert was so well received that many kids wanted to join up. So much for the one-time thing.
The choir filed onto the stage, all wearing denim overalls and primary-colored t-shirts, as though coming straight from the playground. They’re all within a few years of those bombing victims. As their director told their story, anyone watching with an open heart would be looking for the nearest tissue box, ready to be deeply moved. Those beautiful, smiling and slightly nervous faces, poised to belt out their song. Their families and friends in the audience … already crying with pride and anticipation.
They brought the house down with their performance of “JoyFul, Joyful”. Mr. Tough-As-Nails Simon Cowell hopped up and smashed the golden buzzer, sending the group through to the competition’s finals.
America’s got problems. That’s true, but as I watched the family and friends of this group of kids come flooding onto the stage to jump for joy with their kids, representing their community, I couldn’t help but take this reminder as I’ve preached many times before. The terrible things that are happening are real, yes, and dangerous, undoubtedly, but this choir and the power of their story … this is America, too.
I cling to the direct experience that I have that we are a country that still merges peacefully on the highway (usually) and waits our turn in line for tickets to athletic events, holds the door for someone whose arms are filled with packages and maybe even throws in a couple of bucks if the struggling person in front of you at the grocery store is short at the cash register.
Look around at Eastgate Shopping Center this week and ask yourself what kind of community we are as some of these beloved businesses re-open after July’s flash floods. That is who we are, too – generous and determined.
America’s got problems, yes, but the story that’s coming from our current president that we live in a cruel, filthy, low-rent country that needs a police state to get under control while he rides out the crisis at the golf course or overseeing the construction of a grand ballroom … that story makes no sense and is going to be struck down by the thunder of America’s joyful noise.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
