Heartbreak on the Hilltop: A Letter to Birmingham

By Wardine Alexander | Special to The Times (An opinion) Wardine Alexander is President Pro Tem of the Birmingham City Council. I’ve been thinking about my granddaughter a lot lately. I try to imagine what it must be like to be young and in school during this particular moment in time with all the pitfalls of modernity and the general uneasiness we’ve all made note of in recent years. She’s a freshman at an HBCU in another state and I just got back from visiting her – a celebration trip for her accomplishments this year. Since last week, I’ve kept thinking about how devastating the news of Birmingham-Southern College must’ve been to all those who had made similar trips here to celebrate with their children or grandchildren. A little piece of Birmingham’s heart broke off last week, and the students, faculty and families of this historic college are left in the disarray. When something you love falls apart, the days that follow are cloudy regardless of the sunshine outside. To all those who are left with the pieces of a place they loved and learned from, I’m thinking of you today. Eventually those heavy clouds and the weight of it...