Racism and Civil Rights

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16th Street Baptist Church

In the Book of Life, whose name is written there? Whose name is not?

The above burnt, damaged hand fan from a church in Birmingham, Alabama (which I was given by a retired police officer, after a presentation on the Civil War in 1969) is asking in the Book of (a true Christian) Life, whose name is written there; leaving the question, in comparison, whose name is not written there?

Four of true Christians names who are written there in the Book of Life are Addie Mae Collins; Carole Robertson; Cynthia Wesley; and Denise McNair. Two of false Christians names who are not written there in the Book of Life are Robert Chambliss (the Ku Klux Klansman who planted the deadly bomb in the church); and Connie Lynch (who’s damning quote is recorded in the article on the back of the frame). Only each person  who calls themself a Christian knows in relation to this hate crime, if their name is written there in the Book of Life!

The gate pictured on the back of the frame is on my Temple of Tolerance grounds, part of the bomb-destroyed cross-decorated fence which was around the 16th Street Baptist Church; given to me with the fan by the retired Birmingham police officer.