FILE - Graveside services are held, Sept. 18, 1963, for Carol Robertson, a victim of a bomb blast at an African American church days prior, in Birmingham, Ala. Alabama on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, will mark the 60th anniversary of …We have just marked the 60th anniversary of one of the most tragic events of the Civil Rights Era: the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church inTo commemorate the event, former Sen.
The convictions of the criminals who deprived four children of their right to life were a signal accomplishment both for those who pursued justice and for our system of justice. As I wrote to Mr. Jones after his presentation: “That triumph [the convictions] is a tribute to your efforts and to the efforts of all those who worked with you, and it is a tribute to the United States.”
The outcome obtained by Mr. Jones and his team provided me with a level of optimism and a sense of satisfaction that the victims of a heinous crime had received justice in a manner worthy of a great nation, in stark contrast to the absence of justice to which many others have been subjected. For those children, there has never been justice. No one was ever prosecuted for the crime of killing them. Few Nazi ringleaders were tried at Nuremberg, and even fewer were executed for their crimes. But the perpetrators — those who carried out the murders of these innocent children — were never required to pay for their actions or even to acknowledge their wrongdoing.