SARAH COLLINS-RUDOLPH, SURVIVOR OF 1963 ALABAMA CHURCH BOMBING, TELLS AUDIENCE SHE "FORGIVES CHURCH BOMBERS" (2616 hits)
HIGHLAND HILLS, Ohio – Sarah Collins Rudolph showed today that she is more powerful than the bomb that took her right eye in 1963 and killed four girls, including her sister Addie Mae.
All five were the victims of white supremacists who blew up the girls' church, 16th Street Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Ala. Rudolph demonstrated her strength by surviving the blast and getting on with her life.
Today, she demonstrated it again when she told a rapt audience at Cuyahoga Community College East that she has forgiven the terrorists, one of whom remains in prison.
"I had to do this," Rudolph said. "When you hold a lot of hurt and unforgiveness in you, you start being sick a lot. It's no good to hold all of that inside.
"When you put a bomb in a church, you know the devil is using you. I hope they got right with God," she said.
Soft spoken but direct, Rudolph held the attention of nearly 200 who packed the Cleveland auditorium. In the course of more than two hours, she told her story, fielded questions from the audience, then met with anyone who wanted to talk to her, hug her, take her picture or shake her hand.
One of them was Arleema Collins, 40, of Medina, Rudolph's niece. They met for the first time Tuesday evening when Rudolph made a similar presentation at Tri C's Metro campus.
Collins came back today to see her aunt again. "I'm so excited, I'm so excited," Collins said as she jumped up and down.
The bombing was Sept. 15, 1963.
"That morning we walked to church and we were having such a good time. When we got there, we really did not know what was going to happen," Rudolph said.
The girls went to the church basement where the classrooms were. An older sister came down and said "make sure and go to your class."
"We stayed in the women's lounge. We didn't want to go to class," Rudolph said.
Rudolph went to stand by a sink while her sister, Addie, stood by the window. The bomb was underneath an external staircase just outside the window.
There was a blast, debris, smoke and dust, she recalled. "It came in and blinded me. I said 'Addie, Addie, Addie!'"
She didn't find out until much later, at the hospital, that Addie was gone, identified by another older sister.
"They said they took 22 pieces of glass from my face," she said. "The bomb disfigured my face."
Her right eye would be removed later because of the blast.
She would struggle with the aftermath the rest of her days, maintaining a low profile because she was embarrassed by her injuries.
"It took over 20 years for Sarah to come to terms with it all," said Tracy Snipe, a Wright State University professor who accompanied her here and is writing her biography. The first of three bombers did not go on trial until 1977, he said, and the last one only in 2002.
An audience member asked her if "any of the men responsible ever try to reach out to you?"
"Oh no," Rudolph said.
Snipe, a political-science professor, said he wants to tell Rudolph's story because she is often overlooked. Tentative title of the biography is "The Fifth Victim,'' or "The Fifth Girl."
He hopes to publish it on or before Sept. 15, the 51st anniversary of the terrorist attack on five little girls who just wanted to go to church.
Rudolph's Facebook page includes photos of the four girls who were murdered. There is also a photo, run by Life Magazine of Rudolph, then 13, in a hospital bed with both of her eyes bandaged.
One of the most powerful photos, however, is identified at one place as Rudolph's cover photo.
It shows the face of a sweet, innocent, beautiful little girl, yet to be disfigured by white domestic terrorists.
Today, Sarah Collins Rudolph carries on despite continued challenges.
One is difficulty driving, because of vision problems. The other is "any loud noise. I hear a loud sound and I have a panic attack," she said.
