John Hume Was Half-Right About Bloody Sunday
Many people today feel detached from what happened on Bloody Sunday in 1972. They were not born then, they do not live in Derry or the Bogside, and half a century has passed since. Life has moved on, but for the fathers, sons, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends of those who died, the memory remains vivid.
That memory became painfully sharp again last week when Soldier F was acquitted of all murder charges. It took more than fifty years to see a British soldier brought to trial for the killings of that day, and yet he was found not guilty. The verdict reopened old wounds that never really healed.
“Many people down there feel now it’s a united Ireland or nothing. Alienation is pretty total.” — John Hume
John Hume was mistaken about Irish reunification — more than five decades later, there is still no united Ireland. But he was right about alienation. The families of those killed feel deep anger and disillusionment after the acquittal. For them, justice remains out of reach.
In Derry, the famous Free Derry mural has been repainted to read: "There is no British justice." The message captures the bitterness and disbelief many still feel. It seems unreal that after the Ballymurphy massacre, the Parachute Regiment entered the Bogside and killed thirteen more people, with a fourteenth dying later. Yet official voices back then, such as Home Secretary Reginald Maudling, claimed the British army had simply “come under fire.”
Author’s Summary
Bloody Sunday’s long shadow endures in Derry; time has dulled neither grief nor disbelief, proving John Hume was right about alienation even if wrong about reunification.