Hello Everyone!

Today in Birmingham, Alabama a friend and I were talking at Kelly Ingram park (where a lot of the protests took place) and we were approached by a police officer. The police officer told us how the park was not a very big part of the history of Birmingham and that we should be learning more about the steel mills and industrial history of the city. He went on to tell us that Bull Connor was a "great man" and that using the fire hoses on the protesters was an okay thing to do. As you are probably learning in the book that you are reading, Bull Connor treated the Black people of Alabama as if they were not human and did not have any rights. For the police officer to tell me that the civil rights activities that happened in that park were not important and justify the actions of Bull Connor shows how much racism still exists in the south. It makes me wonder how things will ever change if the people who are supposed to be enforcing laws are the ones who are the most prejudice

Emily Mattheisen