JUDE COLLINS: John Hume Was Half-Right with His Bloody Sunday Quote
Many people today don’t care about Bloody Sunday 1972. It’s unsurprising—they weren’t born yet, don’t live in Derry or the Bogside, and over fifty years have passed with other events taking precedence. But the families—fathers, sons, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends—have not forgotten.
This reality became painfully clear last week when Soldier F was acquitted of all murder charges. After fifty-three years, a British soldier was finally put on trial for the events of that day, only to be found not guilty.
“Many people down there feel now it’s a united Ireland or nothing. Alienation is pretty total.” — John Hume, immediately after Bloody Sunday
John Hume’s prediction about reunification was mistaken—fifty-three years later, Ireland remains divided. However, his insight on alienation was accurate. The relatives of the victims expressed sheer disgust following the verdict. The iconic Free Derry mural was altered to read, “There is no British justice.”
It often feels like a nightmare. How could the Parachute Regiment, after allegedly killing eight innocent people in Ballymurphy, Belfast, also enter the Bogside and deliberately shoot thirteen people, with a fourteenth dying later? At the time, Home Secretary Reginald Maudling claimed the British army “came under fire...”
Author’s Summary
The enduring pain of Bloody Sunday survivors highlights deep wounds of alienation, amid decades without justice or Irish unity.
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