Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey apologizes to 16th Street Baptist Church bombing victim, offers negotiations

Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday offered a "sincere, heartfelt apology" to a survivor of the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, and offered to meet with her attorneys as she seeks compensation from the state. 

The governor's letter to an attorney for Sarah Collins Rudolph, who lost her sister and was blinded in one eye in the terrorist attack on the church, did not make any commitments on any issues. But Ivey said she had instructed her general counsel, Will Parker, to begin discussions with Ishan Bhabha, one of Rudolph's attorneys.  

"It would seem to me that beginning these conversations -- without prejudice for what any final outcome might produce but with a goal of finding mutual accord -- would be a natural extension of my Administration's ongoing efforts to foster fruitful conversations about the all-too-difficult -- and sometimes painful -- topic of race, a conversation occurring not only in Alabama but throughout America," Ivey wrote. 

Bhabha and Alison Stein, another attorney for Rudolph, said in a statement on Wednesday they were "gratified by Gov. Ivey's unequivocal acknowledgment of the egregious injustice that Ms. Collins Rudolph suffered," as well as her apology for "the State's racist and segregationist rhetoric and policies that led to Ms. Collins Rudolph's injuries."

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"We look forward to engaging in discussions in the near future with the Governor about compensation, which Ms. Collins Rudolph justly deserves after the loss of her beloved sister and for the pain, suffering and lifetime of missed opportunities resulting from the bombing,” the statement said.

Ivey's letter could mark the first time a state official has publicly considered compensating victims of the racist violence that scars Alabama history, violence that elected white officials often condoned and sometimes encouraged.

William Jelks, who served as governor of Alabama from 1901 to 1907, defended the lynching of Black men accused of rape. In the 1960s, the Alabama Legislature funded two commissions to spy on civil rights activists and manufacture propaganda against the movement.

At the same time, Gov. George Wallace deployed violent and paranoid rhetoric about civil rights activists with little restraint. About 10 days before the 16th Street Church bombing, Wallace told The New York Times that “What this country needs is a few first-class funerals, and some political funerals, too.” 

Alabama officials have made a handful of steps to express regret for Alabama's bloody past. In 2007, the Alabama Legislature passed and Gov. Bob Riley signed a resolution apologizing for the state's role in slavery. In 2018, the Legislature allowed local governments to celebrate a holiday honoring Rosa Parks, but did not make it a state holiday. 

But until Wednesday, few if any elected officials had entertained the possibility of extending a financial settlement to those who suffered at the hands of terrorists. 

A group of Klansmen bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, a center for civil rights activity, on Sept. 15, 1963. The bomb killed Addie Mae Collins, 14; Carol McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14, and Cynthia Wesley, 14, who were changing into their choir robes at the time. Sarah Collins Rudolph was near her sister when the bomb went off, and still carries glass in her body from the attack. 

Rudolph told the Advertiser earlier this month that the damage to her eye from the bombing forced her to give up her dream of becoming a nurse. She supported herself through foundry work and housekeeping, she said. 

“I’m still paying bills from that day,” she said. “I still have to go to the doctor for my eye.”

No arrests were made at the time. In 1977, a Birmingham jury convicted Bob Chambliss of the murder of McNair and sentenced to life in prison after a prosecution led by then-Attorney General Bill Baxley. In 2001 and 2002, then-U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, now a U.S. senator, secured the convictions of Thomas Blanton and Frank Bobby Cherry for their roles in the bombing.

Jones met with Rudolph's attorneys late last year, and told them he believed that Wallace and Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor "engaged in the kind of dog-whistle political rhetoric that promoted violence and led to the bombing."

Chambliss, Blanton and Cherry all died in prison. A fourth suspect, Herman Cash, died of cancer in 1994 without ever being charged. 

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A handful of segregationist politicians, including Wallace and former Gov. John Patterson, later expressed regret for their actions during the civil rights movement. But few discussed ways to make up for their public actions. 

Bhabha wrote to the governor earlier this month, saying that Rudolph sought an apology and compensation after a lifetime of difficulties caused by the bombing. Ivey wrote that "many would question whether the state could be held legally responsible" for the attack. But she added that "the racist, segregationist rhetoric used by some of our leaders during that time was wrong and would be utterly unacceptable in today's Alabama."

"Moreover, there should be no question that Ms. Collins Rudolph and the families of those who perished ... suffered an egregious injustice that has yielded untold pain and suffering over the ensuing decades," Ivey wrote. "For that, they deserve a sincere, heartfelt apology -- an apology that I extend today without hesitation or reservation."

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com. Updated at 3:56 p.m. with additional background and comment from Rudolph's attorneys.