Marchers to commemorate 1963 Children’s Crusade in Birmingham this weekend
This weekend, on the 55th anniversary of one of Birmingham’s most famous civil rights protests, the Children’s Crusade, hundreds of children from Birmingham and the nation will join those who experienced the protest firsthand to march to commemorate the events of 1963. Jack and Jill of America, Inc. and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute have planned two separate events for this weekend in and around Kelly Ingram Park and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Dozens of the original “foot soldiers,” will have prominent roles in both events. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute event will feature a recreation of the original marches. At 10 a.m. Saturday marchers will gather at St. Paul United Methodist Church on 6th Ave North. The church was one of two churches used for the 1963 protests to gather the young marchers and give them instructions before heading into Kelly Ingram Park. “The Power of Children: Then and Now,” hosted by Jack and Jill Inc. is a three-day event which takes place at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and includes a commemorative march at 2 p.m. on Saturday from Kelly Ingram Park to Railroad Park. “When you think about the pivotal role that children played, not just in civil rights history but in U.S. history in Birmingham, and it is critically important that our young people know that,” Jack and Jill President Joli Cooper-Nelson told AL.com. “So this weekend is about educating, honoring, remembering, inspiring, and celebrating.” Jack and Jill is expecting up to 2,000 of its members and their families to participate, with many families traveling from outside Alabama. “We have determined based on the response we’re getting that this will be the first of many annual commemorations of the children’s march,” Birmingham Civil Rights Institute CEO, Andrea Taylor told AL.com. “Because I can assure you that five years from now, 10 years from now, 25 years from now, even half a century from now, there will be issues of concern in the moment that young people want to engage with and can be change agents about.” The original marches were a major turning point in the Civil Rights movement. Thousands of children were trained by movement leaders in the tactics of non-violent protesting. May 2, 1963 they left the 16th Street Baptist Church in groups, marching throughout the city to peacefully protest segregation, but were not met with a peaceful response. On the first day of the protest, hundreds of children were arrested. On the second day, Commissioner of Public Safety Bull O’Connor ordered police to threaten the children with police dogs, spray them with powerful water hoses, and hit them with batons. Pictures and stories of the violent crackdown on peacefully protesting children in Birmingham circulated throughout the nation and the world, and caused a major outcry on their behalf, eventually leading to the desegregation of businesses and marking a significant victory in Birmingham.
Lockheed Martin receives $80 Million contract for missile defense targets
The Missile Defense Agency on Thursday awarded Lockheed Martin an $80.6 million contract to build and test modified ballistic re-entry vehicles and separation modules for missile defense tests that will be designed and produced in Huntsville, Ala. The company will be producing unarmed re-entry vehicles for target missile tests through 2022. The contract also includes opportunity for additional vehicles and mission support. “The re-entry vehicle is essentially the bullseye for an interceptor missile, and it is also one of the most complex parts of the target, in today’s environment, it’s incredibly important to test against threat-representative targets that look like enemy missiles, and we are proud to continue to provide that capability to the Missile Defense Agency,” said vice president of Missile Defense Programs at Lockheed Martin Space, Sarah Reeves. Huntsville native companies will be included on the project including: Dynetics, Inc. will provide the aeroshell structures, and Battelle will provide the hit detection system. “Instead of carrying warheads, modified ballistic re-entry vehicles carry sensors to measure the accuracy and effectiveness of the target, interceptor and missile defense system. Testing against a capable, threat-representative re-entry vehicle helps ensure the ballistic missile defense system is ready to detect and destroy enemy missiles,” Lockheed Martin said in a news release. Lockheed Martin is a long-standing defense company, whose Huntsville location will be celebrating 55 years of work within the Yellowhammer State in May. The company expanded it’s presence within the state last year with the opening of their new training facility in Troy, Ala. in September. The Huntsville facility is expected to employ over 240 people by 2020.
Robert Bentley announces $20 million Transocean settlement
Thursday Alabama Governor Robert Bentley announced the state has agreed to a $20 million settlement with Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc., the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. “The State of Alabama suffered tremendous environmental and economic losses because of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010,” Governor Bentley said. “I appreciate the entire Alabama team for working to ensure Alabama is fairly compensated. This agreement with Transocean is another positive step forward as we continue to recover from the effects of such a significant environmental and economic disaster.” The Deepwater Horizon rig explosion on April 20, 2010, which was being used by BP was one the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history. It killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of oil onto the shorelines of many Gulf states, including Alabama for nearly three months. The result? Significant environmental and economic damages across the affected Gulf states. “I’m pleased to announce that Transocean has paid $20 million into the State’s General Fund to settle the State’s remaining claims against the company for its role in the disastrous 2010 Gulf oil spill,” said Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. “Alabama’s recovery is due to the hard work of my staff in pursuing our case against Transocean, while they simultaneously litigated the State’s case against BP.” Attorney General Strange was the court-appointed coordinating counsel for all five Gulf States in the litigation against BP and its co-Defendants for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. On October 5, 2015, Strange announced a final settlement of Alabama’s damages claims with BP that directed $950 million to the State’s General Fund and approximately $1 billion to Alabama’s coastal counties for economic and environmental restoration. Alabama’s settlement with Transocean resolves all claims against the rig operator that were not encompassed by the global settlement with BP.
