Dec. 11, 2007
Not Just Another Road Trip But an Education!
As a "baby boomer" and a child of the Sixties from West Orange, New Jersey, my pre-trip thoughts about Birmingham, Alabama, in addition to the Hoyas' game, focused on 1963, when Birmingham was the epicenter of the civil rights movement. In particular, I conjured up memories of Sheriff "Bull" Connor unleashing vicious police dogs and fire hoses on the "Children's Marchers" in Spring 1963 and, of course, the Ku Klux Klan's September 15, 1963, bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church resulting in the deaths of four teenage girls - - Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley - - as they attended Sunday School and prepared for the morning church service. This cowardly act of violence brought worldwide condemnation to the racial violence in "Bombingham," as the city came to be called. Thankfully, my visit to Birmingham provided clear evidence of a city that has gone from revolution to reconciliation. And it gave me an eye-opening education.
My first indication of a changed atmosphere came during a walk with my daughter Meredith Karam, C '07, along one of the central linking streets of Downtown Birmingham - - Richard Arrington Boulevard - - named after the first Black Mayor of Birmingham, who served as Mayor from 1979 until 1999. Arrington Boulevard Downtown Birmingham linked the Hotel Redmont (Hoya Headquarters) with the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC), where the Georgetown - Alabama game was played, as well as the Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame. Along the journey, I walked past the Birmingham Public Library and Linn-Henley Research Library, two very distinguished public buildings, and the Birmingham Museum of Art, the largest municipally owned art museum in the Southeast, which houses a very impressive permanent collection as well as an extraordinary touring exhibition on "Pompeii." To think that a central thoroughfare in Birmingham could be named after a Black American would have been unfathomable in 1963, when the lunch counters were still segregated and "Bull" Connor ruled over Birmingham backed by snarling police dogs and overpowering fire hoses and Governor George Wallace "stood in the doorway" to prevent the integration of the University of Alabama.
But if Arrington Boulevard signified that a change was in the air, Birmingham's Civil Rights District plainly reflected that racial reconciliation had transformed the city. The Birmingham Civil Rights District covers a six-block area in Downtown Birmingham and contains, among other things, Kelly Ingram Park, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Kelly Ingram Park, which honors the first American killed in World War I, was the site of numerous protests and violence during the Children's Crusade in Spring 1963. Today, it features a powerful Freedom Walk, requiring the visitor to walk through sculptures of imprisoned children, fire hoses spewing water streams at demonstrators, praying pastors, and an extraordinarily brutal sculpture of vicious police dogs terrorizing a young black man. We learned from a "street professor" that the Park, which was rededicated in 1993 as "A Place of Revolution and Reconciliation" represents a tribute to the four young Black girls killed in the Klan's September 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. There are four entrances to the Park, one for each of the four girls. In the center of the Park, there are four fountains, each representing one of the four slain girls. The water overflowing the sides of the fountains represents the tears that were shed for the four little girls. At one end of the park stands a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., facing outward from the Park to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
Following the gaze of Dr. King's sculpture, we then traversed the intersection to visit the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where the terrible and cowardly bombing occurred and focused worldwide attention on the City of Birmingham. The church - - a place of prayer and peace - - provided a powerful tribute to the four slain teenagers and an antidote to the violence and hatred of that time in Birmingham. As an interesting aside, the bombing knocked out the face of Jesus in the Church's only surviving stained glass window and the Church's clock, on display in the small museum area, stopped at exactly 10:22 a.m., the precise time of the bombing!
Leaving the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, we crossed the street to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which faces Kelly Ingram Park. The Civil Rights Institute chronicles the Civil Rights Movement and Birmingham and the South's roles in it. It features, among other things, not only a series of timelines outlining the events of the Civil Rights Movement but also the actual jail bars and a replica of the cell where Reverend King penned "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail," on April 16, 1963. Dr. King had been imprisoned for "parading without a permit," and he wrote in response to a letter from eight white ministers questioning his actions and urging respect for the law. In his letter, Dr. King wrote that "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." He also proclaimed in this powerful missive that "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people." Dr. King's powerful plea brought me back to Father Clarence Stankiewicz's S.J., class, Black Theology: Religion and Racism, which I took as a sophomore in Fall 1969 and in which I first encountered Dr. King's letter. Fittingly, the Civil Rights Institute concludes with a link to human rights issues around the world today. What a powerful afternoon and a living walk through the most troubling aspect of American history! Nevertheless, I exited my visit to Birmingham's Civil Rights District with a renewed sense of hope and faith in the power of prayer and human renewal.
Leaving the Civil Rights District, we returned to the Hotel Redmont for the Hoya Hoop Club's pre-game gathering. The gathering area was filled with Hoya supporters from all classes enjoying the fellowship of the festivities and preparing for the evening`s game - - a stark change from the sobering events of the tour through the Civil Rights District. I saw old friends - - fellow Hoop Club officers Al Bozzo, B '85, Tom Wong, C '82, Joe Guarriello, B '71, L '74, and Board of Governors' leaders Mark Siskin, C '71, and Paul Bessozzi, F '69, L '72 - - and met some new ones, including Hoya Blue Communications Director (and fellow blogger) Dmitriy Zakharov, F-GRD '09, Chris Haines, B '07, and Dr. Alfred Bozzo, C '58, M '62, R '69, father of the current Hoop Club President. Kudos go out to Allison Rubin, Hoyas Unlimited's Executive Director, for arranging for the hotel and the event!!
Finally, we headed off to the game, walking again along Arrington Boulevard. We laughed as we thought about this being a "neutral site" game, according to the Big East and the SEC, as it was not being played in Tuscaloosa. The very thought reminded me of the 2006 Sweet Sixteen game against Ohio State in Dayton, where the Hoyas confronted an arena that was 90% for Ohio State, yet emerged with the victory.
The game proved to be closer than I might have liked, although the team did earn a 10-point victory over the Crimson Tide. I was especially impressed by the way the team played over the last four minutes, when it found itself down by one, and by the individual efforts of sophomore DaJuan Summers and junior Jesse Sapp. Dajuan threw down some clutch shots and Jesse brought "New York City" basketball to Birmingham with his slashing drives and intensity. I was especially happy for Jonathan "Money" Wallace, the only Hoya player in history to hail from Alabama, who returned "home" to garner a victory in front of his family and Sparkman High School coach and mates from Harvest, Alabama. All in all, it was a most satisfying trip!!
Returning to Washington the next morning, I reflected on the events of the prior two days. The sobering reminders of the Civil Rights Movements' struggles in Birmingham, the fellowship of the pre-game gathering, and the Hoya victory made for not just a road trip, but an educational journey. I also recalled that the first Black basketball player to play for Georgetown was Bernie White, B '69, who was recruited by legendary Coach Tom O'Keefe, C '50, but who experienced little playing time under Coach Jack Magee, except for a game against a highly-ranked Columbia team, led by Jim McMillian and Heywood Dotson, when Bernie led the Hoyas to victory. When provided with the opportunity, Bernie White fulfilled the promise that Coach O'Keefe saw in him when he recruited him off a basketball court at Fort Belvoir.
WE ARE GEORGETOWN!!
Respectfully submitted,
Michael E. Karam, F '72, L '76, L `81
Proud Member of Generation Laughna
