This was, indeed, “THE BOMB HEARD AROUND THE WORLD”
There were no foreign attacks on American soil. Yet there were twelve bombings targeting black Americans in the “Jim Crow” South that year. But the final bomb was set off that year in a small town in Florida. And it was heard around the world.
Harry Moore and his wife, Harriette, were murdered on Christmas night, sixty-six years ago at the hands of racist terrorists. Harry knew he was a target for racist groups like the KKK but he swore he would keep going even if they killed him. The Moore’s courage was unmatched.
World War ll had just ended but that was in Europe and Asia. Americans had never experienced the shock and tragedy of war on ‘home soil’. Americans, for a very long time, paid little attention to the persecution of blacks, despite the multitude of violent, racist episodes; not dissimilar from events in Nazi Germany.
And while this is the story of Harry and Harriette Moore — it is also a story for today.
With many questionable killings of blacks in America today, the racial divide has widened exponentially. Racial injustices of yesteryear relate directly to today’s current events. White supremacists marching openly in public signifies that extreme racism has returned in force, for the time being. Recent travel bans are in the process of rejecting immigrants and the current administration’s bullying of minorities signifies a segment of America is devolving.
The current right-wing government has created a toxic environment where an inordinate number of American citizens seem to support returning to a darker time in American history where being white was embraced with enthusiasm whilst foreigners and peoples of color were treated as second-class citizens.