Women’s Business Center of Rural Alabama
Welcomes New Project Director
THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX
Arthur L. Mack
Freelance Writer
Mobile, Alabama
Contact Info: [email protected]
The More Things Change...
The More they Remain the Same
In the aftermath of the murders of nine people at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in
Charleston, South Carolina, I’ve asked myself time and time again: Are we reliving
the past again?
The alleged Charleston shooter, Dylann Storm Roof—who reportedly espoused
racist ties and in one picture was shown wearing a jacket with patches of the old
flags of South Africa and Rhodesia—is being held in jail under $1 million dollars bond.
The crime was in itself heinous, but the fact that it was a white man shooting and
killing nine people in a house of worship brought up very bad memories for many
during the civil rights era, when black churches were targeted for violence—the most
notable being the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of 1963 in Birmingham which
killed four little girls.
My initial reactions to the shootings—which took the life of the church’s pastor,
Rev Clementa Pinckney (who was also a state senator) along with eight other people
who were going about their business participating in a Bible study class—were those
of sickness,