Doug Jones Marks 63rd Anniversary of 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing at Birmingham Town Hall

Birmingham, AL – On the 63rd anniversary of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, Doug Jones returned home to Birmingham for a town hall at A.H. Parker High School, where he honored the four girls killed in the bombing and the young foot soldiers who helped change the country.

Nearly four decades later, Jones helped bring two of the Klansmen responsible for murdering Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley to justice, leading their prosecutions in 2001 and 2002. On Tuesday night, Denise’s sisters, Lisa and Kim, were there as Jones reflected on that history and what it still means for Birmingham today.

“We’re here tonight as much as anything to honor those kids, to honor the legacy of Parker High School, but also these kids. Not just the kids who died, the kids who took to the streets of Birmingham, the kids, the foot soldiers who many are still here with us, that took to the streets, that braved the fire hoses and the dogs to change America. And you changed America,” Jones said.

Jones said remembering that history also means recognizing how much work remains.

“I think it’s important to remember all of that because we’re still in the process of trying to form that more perfect union,” Jones said.

Jones pointed to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as part of the progress that followed the Civil Rights Movement and warned against taking those gains for granted.

“And that more perfect union was coming into play. But all of a sudden, so much of the progress that we have seen in Birmingham and around this country over the years because of those two pieces of legislation have now been rolled back,” Jones said. “And I tell people that’s why this election is so important because we have got to start moving that needle back to that more perfect union.”

Watch the full Town Hall HERE.

###