Bombing Trial Could Send False Message

Contact: Gail Short205-934-8931/[email protected]

STORY: Should prosecutors in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing trial succeed in getting a conviction against the defendant Thomas Blanton, it will send a signal to the black community that they're now legitimate citizens in the eyes of a justice system that once worked against them. But, says University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) historian Jack Davis, Ph.D., the trial could also send a false message to the nation that race relations in Alabama are better than they actually are. The church bombing trial is not indicative of justice in Alabama, he says.

WHO: Jack Davis, Ph.D., specializes in the civil rights movement. He is editor of The Civil Rights Movement and is author of the upcoming book "Race Against Time: Culture and Separation in Natchez Since 1930" by LSU Press. He is an assistant professor of social history at UAB.

WHAT: "To be honest, I worry that if there is a conviction," says Davis, "it will send a false message that the legal system in Alabama is in good shape, and it's not. There is still a tremendous amount of discrimination that exits."

Davis points to statistics from the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama that show that each year nearly 65 percent of all murders in Alabama involve black victims, but 80 percent of the people currently on death row were convicted of crimes in which the victims were white. And nearly 70 percent of those executed in Alabama in the past 20 years have been black. "This demonstrates that in Alabama, black life is still not as valued as white life," says Davis.

"The state of Alabama and the chambers of commerce can only benefit from this trial and there are political awards to reap as well because it will make the state look better and give the appearance that Alabama has moved into the 21st century. Race relations are better, but they're not where they should be."

NOTE: We are the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Please use UAB on second reference. We are not to be confused with the University of Alabama, which is a separate, independent campus.