What Charleston Tells Us About Race Relations

A liberal standby says ‘nothing's really changed.' Really? Let's take a look at the response to a 1960s church bombing in the South.

With last week's murder of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., the liberal standby that “nothing's really changed” in America has resurfaced. But a lot has changed in the U.S., and for the better, even though the political left has a vested interest in pretending otherwise.

When Klansmen bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963 and killed four black girls, it was the fourth such incident in that city in less than a month. Indeed, there had been some 50 bombings of black homes and sanctuaries in Birmingham since World War II, and none of the crimes had been solved by the all-white, Klan-infested police force. One black residential neighborhood experienced so many bombings that it was known as Dynamite Hill.

It would be 14 long years before anyone was prosecuted for the 16th Street bombing, and there was no shortage of sympathy for the perpetrators. Birmingham's commitment to segregation was notorious. In 1962 the city closed 68 parks, 38 playgrounds and six swimming pools rather than comply with a federal court order to desegregate public facilities. After the church bombing, city officials theorized that the four girls may have accidentally set off the dynamite in the church basement, and the officials spread rumors that the FBI was sitting on evidence that a black janitor was the real culprit.

Even some in the faith community were cowed, writes Taylor Branch in “Pillar of Fire,” his civil-rights history. “In Nashville, white Baptist leaders drafted a resolution of sympathy for the stricken congregation at Sixteenth Street—saying ‘we join you in mourning your dead' and ‘encourage our people to contribute toward restoration of your building'—but the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention rejected the expression and managed for thirty years to seal records of its fitful consideration.”

With last week's murder of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., the liberal standby that “nothing's really changed” in America has resurfaced. But a lot has changed in the U.S., and for the better, even though the political left has a vested interest in pretending otherwise.

When Klansmen bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963 and killed four black girls, it was the fourth such incident in that city in less than a month. Indeed, there had been some 50 bombings of black homes and sanctuaries in Birmingham since World War II, and none of the crimes had been solved by the all-white, Klan-infested police force. One black residential neighborhood experienced so many bombings that it was known as Dynamite Hill.

It would be 14 long years before anyone was prosecuted for the 16th Street bombing, and there was no shortage of sympathy for the perpetrators. Birmingham's commitment to segregation was notorious. In 1962 the city closed 68 parks, 38 playgrounds and six swimming pools rather than comply with a federal court order to desegregate public facilities. After the church bombing, city officials theorized that the four girls may have accidentally set off the dynamite in the church basement, and the officials spread rumors that the FBI was sitting on evidence that a black janitor was the real culprit.

Even some in the faith community were cowed, writes Taylor Branch in “Pillar of Fire,” his civil-rights history. “In Nashville, white Baptist leaders drafted a resolution of sympathy for the stricken congregation at Sixteenth Street—saying ‘we join you in mourning your dead' and ‘encourage our people to contribute toward restoration of your building'—but the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention rejected the expression and managed for thirty years to seal records of its fitful consideration.”

This piece originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

This piece originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal