Abstract
Senator Doug Jones may best be known for his defeat of Roy Moore in the 2017 special election held in Alabama to replace Jeff Sessions after he became U.S. Attorney General. In the book, Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing That Changed the Course of Civil Rights, Doug Jones presents a moving story about the horrific 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, which killed four innocent young girls and severely injured another, and the efforts by two determined teams to bring the murders to justice decades after their crime. Even though this book is filled with details, and the story can be complicated due to the multiple investigations over 38 years, it reads like a novel. Jones describes his passion for the law and his desire to struggle for justice by working within the system.
Like many White children who grew up in southern suburbs in the 1960s, Doug Jones was largely unaware of the world exploding around him. Segregation was simply seen as a way of life because they did not experience the indignities or even have knowledge of the damage wrought by racism. His description of his childhood is wrapped in White privilege as he explains that he was largely oblivious of the church bombing, as well as the deadly racial violence, which not only preceded the incident but erupted immediately afterward. As he stated, “I was nine. I was white. I was loved, and I was lucky” (p. 12). His ignorance was shattered by school integration where for the first time he had personal conversations with African American students about their experiences, hopes, and fears.
As a young adult, Doug Jones was inspired by Alabama State Attorney General Kenner Baxley’s dogged pursuit of the killers 16 years after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had dropped the case as unwinnable. “Dynamite” Bob Chambliss was convicted of murder in 1977, but Baxley’s pursuit of the two remaining suspects, Bobby Frank Cherry and Tom Blanton, was cut short as Baxley’s term of office came to an end. His efforts to reopen these cases were not appreciated by many of the White voters in Alabama. After being appointed U.S. Attorney for the northern district of Alabama in 1997, Doug Jones took the baton and successfully convicted Blanton in 2001 and Cherry in 2002 of murder for their role in the brutal terrorist attack on the church. Jones also felt like he was in a race against time to complete the trials before he was removed from office.
The story of the bombing, the initial investigation, and the three separate investigations and trials provide the reader with a wealth of information about criminal investigations, the process of building a case, the challenge of identifying and coaxing reluctant witnesses, and the political conditions of each time period which hindered the process and eventually made the convictions possible. This story is informative regarding these processes, but it also paints a disturbing picture of the dynamics of race in the South in the 1960s and today. As such, Bending Toward Justice would be an excellent supplemental textbook for an undergraduate course on the intersection of race and criminal justice, criminal investigation, or legal procedures.
Furthermore, it provides frightening insight into the political intrigue and corruption that dominated and continues to threaten the “New South” as well as the nation. The investigations exposed the deep involvement and complicity of local law enforcement in racial violence, as well as the lack of cooperation and indifference exhibited by the FBI to seek justice for African Americans in the 1960s and 1970s. In the end, it further demonstrates the significance of Doug Jones’ win over Roy Moore in his election to the U.S. Senate from Alabama as many White voters continued to support Moore despite the many allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls.
Most important of all, the book puts White responsibility for racial justice on trial. In a passionate speech immediately following the terrorist act, Charles Morgan Jr. asked a crowd of moderate Whites, “Who did it?” He answered his own question with, “We all did it.” Shortly after he placed the blame on “good people for doing nothing,” he and his family had to leave Alabama due to the numerous death threats.
I believe this book is a tale of White redemption and hope. Racialized slavery is the original sin of the United States. The terrorist and murderous act of bombing the 16th Street Baptist Church in the name of White people, or for the protection of the White race, and the failure of “the people” to hold anyone accountable for this crime, reflect the manifestation of that sin. For as long as “good people” do nothing, the failure to seek justice for this crime is a stain on the soul of White American, and especially the White people of Alabama. This book is a story about lawyers, investigators, and others who believed that only when there could be at least some modicum of justice for those little girls and their families, could we honestly begin talking about a New South and a positive future for the state of Alabama. It is also the story of frightened people, including family members of the defendants, coming forward to provide evidence and/or to give testimony.
Although the arc of history may bend toward justice, it is not an evolutionary process or a natural progression. The arc of history bends toward justice because of people who take action to bend it in that direction. People created injustice and often struggle to prevent justice, so people must act to bend that arc. The movements to bend the arc of history are often pushed forward by external forces, such as protests, boycotts, and other struggles for justice. Doug Jones argues in his book that the most powerful or most important movements toward justice are internal, within the system of justice of this country. Whether that is true or not is highly debatable, but it was that belief which apparently drove him to become a lawyer. He argues that the law is one of the most noble professions because lawyers are the ones who safeguard our civil rights and seek justice for those who have been harmed, thus bending the arc of history toward justice.
