Tag: Race
George Floyd’s Death Has Stirred Sympathy and Outrage in Diverse Groups From Birmingham to Hoover
People across Birmingham and its southern suburbs gathered Thursday to honor George Floyd and protest his death at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
In Mountain Brook, hundreds of protestors sat on the ground and covered their noses and mouths for more than eight minutes, the length of time Floyd laid on the ground with an officer’s knee on the side of his throat. The scene resembled another carried out in Homewood earlier in the week. Groups have gathered in Hoover almost every day since Saturday. Read more.
Read more about protests, curfews, removal of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument and other actions in the Birmingham area.
UAB, Some Downtown Businesses Close in Response to Rumors of Violence; Woodfin Stresses City Will Enforce Protest Rules
Anxiety grew in downtown Birmingham Thursday afternoon as rumors spread of potentially violent protests. These rumors — which included that a Ku Klux Klan rally would take place in Linn Park — led several businesses, including the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to shut down earlier than usual.
Mayor Randall Woodfin dismissed these rumors as false in a video address Thursday afternoon, but he said his curfew — which includes significant restrictions on public assembly in the city — would continue to be strictly enforced by police. Read more.
Finding A Way Forward in Birmingham After Violence and Destruction
A Confederate monument that stood in a downtown Birmingham’s Linn Park for 115 years is now gone. Crews removed the structure following protests over police treatment of black Americans that turned destructive on Sunday, damaging many buildings. This happened in a city that prides itself on its history of nonviolent protest during the civil rights era. Rev. Thomas Wilder leads Bethel Baptist Church in Collegeville. It’s the same church Birmingham civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth once led. Wilder spoke with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager. Read more.
Woodfin Says He Received Death Threats After Removal of Monument
Responding to questions this morning on the NBC Today show, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said he received death threats in response to his order to take down a Confederate monument in the wake of destructive protests Sunday night.
“Unfortunately, in the state of Alabama, there’s a lot of people who like to participate in revisionist history,” Woodfin said, speaking with host Al Roker. “They believe it’s American to support the Civil War as relates to these competitive monuments. They’re mad because we took the statue down and, yes, there have been several threats.
Read more.
