Thread by @DrRJKavanagh

6 Black children were murdered in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15, 1963. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carol Robertson & Cynthia Wesley in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

Virgil Ware was murdered by White teenagers.

Johnny Robinson was shot & killed by police.

Virgil Ware, just 13, was riding on the handlebars of his brother James’ bicycle when he was shot and killed by two white teenagers, Larry Sims and Michael Farley. He died in his brother's arms.

Sims and Farley, Eagle Scouts, had just come from a segregationist rally.

Sims and Farley, both 16, were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 7 months in jail. A judge suspended those sentences, giving them instead 2 years probation.

The murder occurred within hours of the bombing.

Johnny Robinson was also murdered within hours of the attack on the 16th St Baptist Church.

Johnny, just 16, was participating in a demonstration with other Black children, when White men confronted them in a car draped in the confederate flag, and started yelling racial slurs.

Newspaper reports from the time say Johnny threw a rock at the car that instead hit another car.

A police car pulled up with a cop, Jack Parker, holding a shotgun out the window. Everyone in the crowd fled. Parker shot Johnny in the back as he ran away.

Two grand juries refused to indict Parker for Johnny's death and no one has ever been prosecuted.

Virgil Ware and Johnny Robinson have largely been forgotten in memorials to the victims of the White Supremacist and police violence in Birmingham 56 years ago.

But this is how @washingtonpost reported the murders of all 6 children on 16 September 1963.

washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nationa…

@washingtonpost There is not very much recent reporting. But their families continue to fight for their legacies to be upheld, for justice, and for reparations to be made for their loss.

thegrio.com/2013/09/13/vir…