Birmingham booster struggles with mass shooting

Birmingham's 5 Points South mass shooting--al.com
Birmingham’s 5 Points South mass shooting–al.com

By David Sher

“Birmingham booster struggles with mass shooting.”

Well, you guessed it.

I’m that Birmingham booster.

I’m that guy that who writes columns and gives speeches promising a better future for Birmingham.

But after the mass shooting in Five Points South, where am I?

Where are you?

I’ve walked the streets of Five Points South hundreds of times.

I’ve been there with my wife,

I’ve been there with my children and grandchildren.

Many of you have done the same.

So how do we stay safe?

How do we keep our families safe?

Avoiding Five South is not going to guarantee our safety.

Avoiding the City of Birmingham is not going to guarantee our safety.

Criminals with guns don’t exclaim, “I’m about to leave the city limits of Birmingham, I better turn around.”

I live in Vestavia Hills, but I can’t live my life never leaving my city.

But staying in my city may not be safe either. It’s been two years since the mass shooting at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills that resulted in three deaths.

When I’m out-of-state, and people ask me where I’m from, I don’t say I’m from Vestavia Hills. I say I’m from Birmingham.

You do the same.

You don’t say you’re from Mountain Brook.

You don’t say you’re from Homewood.

You don’t say you’re from Hoover.

You’re from Birmingham.

To the rest of the world, we are all from Birmingham.

Whether we like it or not, people judge us for living in Birmingham.

This makes it difficult for us to recruit thriving companies.

This makes it difficult for our businesses to recruit talented employees.

I gave a speech last week at The Club about the future of Birmingham.

There were about forty people in the audience from our Birmingham region, but only one lived in the City of Birmingham.

Only 17% of the population of our Birmingham-Hoover metro area live in the City of Birmingham.

Birmingham’s population is shrinking.

It would not be good if everyone moved out of the city of Birmingham.

It would not be good if everyone quit going into Birmingham.

Some folks may say I’m being hypocritical for not living in Birmingham. But for everyone to move into Birmingham is not the solution.

We must understand that we are in this together and that what happens in Birmingham has a major impact on our lives.

We all chose to live outside the city limits of Birmingham so we get no vote and no say so.

This does not absolve us of the consequences.

This is not just a Birmingham problem.

This is an ‘all of us’ problem.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown.  He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).

Click here to sign up for our newsletter. (Opt out at any time)

Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.com.

(Visited 2,329 times, 1 visits today)

15 thoughts on “Birmingham booster struggles with mass shooting”

  1. Businesses may come to the area and set up a location in, say, Trussville, but Trussville is not what initially brought them there (many would have never known of Trussville if not for Birmingham). I’m more than aware of cities in trouble (and the dangers of negative perceptions), as I am writing this post in Springfield, OH of all places. This town has been put through the wringer in the past weeks, and the sensationalism and side stories and half-truths and three-quarter lies know no bounds. If you can speak something into existence, it exists. Also, statistics can be used and abused by virtually anyone to prove a talking point. Is Birmingham truly the most dangerous city in America at this moment? Is there any correlation to the sharp decline in local cat/dog/goose populations in relation to the arrival of Haitian migrants in Springfield? Statistics can easily prove [or disprove] any of these cases, as it depends upon the inherent bias or motive of the presenter. Less-educated or less-informed individuals tend to place more weight into anecdotal tales or assertions from perceived authorities. If a person insists that a thing has happened and exudes enough emotion to persuade the listener, it’s true. Whether it’s Birmingham becoming the murder capital of North America, or cats and dogs being kidnapped for supper, no amount of objective data otherwise will sway that notion. People are going to believe what they’re going to believe.

  2. David, here is the practical result/problem that I see. I was just asked by an upcoming visitor-client for a hotel recommendation in Birmingham. Am I to recommend one of the properties in Five Points South? What about nearby UAB hotel properties? Yes, violence can occur anywhere. But, now that it is in my backyard,…it just feels different.

  3. It all comes down to leadership. Birmingham never had major murder issues like today under Mayors Vann, Arrington or Bell.
    Unfortunately , Woodfin seems to lack experience and does not seek competent and qualified people to advise him on saving Birmingham from itself.

    1. Not true. The modern record for homicides before 2022 was 1991 and 1992 with 141 and 144. The record was in the early 1930s with 148 homicides this year. This city, like this state, has a very long history of endemic violence. This problem is beyond this particular administration. This is not to absolve it completely of any blame but misrepresenting the facts does not help anything. This is a complex, long standing issue with roots in some of what the columnist refers to, white flight, concentrated poverty in the city and concentrated wealth in suburbs, etc. As he said, it’s not just the mayor. This is all of our problem to address.

      1. A few factual corrections: (1) (re JR) The city’s population has shrunk about 25% since the 1930s and 1990s. The homicide rate over the past few years is the highest since 1913. http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Birmingham_homicides_by_year
        (2) (re CCG) Bham has long been a relatively violent city with homicide rates much higher than the US as a whole (3) (re DS) this problem predates white flight and city/suburb gradients.

        As for solutions, they’re mostly up to black Bham leadership. While global experience (eg El Salvador) suggests that harsh crackdowns have the quickest results, this amplifies concerns about civil rights, racism and alleged police brutality. Pressure from neighboring white-run communities — either from the right to “crack down or from the left to “defund the police” — will be even less welcome or useful than in Newark NJ or Oakland CA., with near-certainty of aggravating old wounds. The best all of us can offer is frank, respectful discussion of policy options, with less virtue-signaling and more genuine compassion.

        1. However, studies consistently show that the key to addressing crime is poverty mitigation, not the police or jails. To address poverty significantly , it will take more that just the efforts of the city but also state government initiatives and investment and at the federal level as well. Futhermore, I never mentioned homicide rates, only that the total number was highest in the ‘30s.

  4. I have not read all of this yet but I am well aware of enough to recommend this. What brought downtown back to life more more residents than ever imaged given that there formerly were none, was the increase of visible and ready police security. Add police were not in cars but walking on the ground, feet to surface. (rats smell a cat and the rats are gone, all of them, all!)

    A worry is the notoriety of racist history and crime that the word spread afar. The massive number of other places across the country and world where this has and is happening in the so many other places are being repeatedly reported. In that context people might just think “oh it is just another horror show!” Other places have some chance of getting out of the focus, even thought they are not forgotten and certainly not by those who live in them. Birmingham’s name might stand out more than others rather than being ignored or somewhat forgotten because of our bad history that the whole world knows about, our racism and crime.

    Fear itself kills.

    I also fear the constant media reports of all of goin on everywhere things especially like school and shop killing leas to more wanting to copy those. Birmingham’s may be different is a gang and drugs are involved, again not rare.

    Bring on the help needed, find the culprit, succeed is big increase of security for the area and surrounds. Set Birmingham as a fine example for the world and get out of negative territory. Then more that is good will come to Birmingham, being at least in this way better than others.
    The clusters of our suburban outliers are in their bunkers? Bad.

    And finally teach people, especially youngsters how to resolve issues without using any kind of violence supported by weapons. It is the angry, drunk, drugged or insane person who pulls the trigger that kills and harms. It is just that the insane need to be care for, and it has become dangerous that people are not allowed to suggest that anyone is crazy the results in a gun being used to kill, as a result of failure to report.

    Birmingham be known for having set the highest stand of control, security and taking good care of its citizens. Include how we teach people proper behavior and help.

    Good luck and God bless Birmingham

  5. The comments section tends to take quite the detour from time to time. I guess the saying is true that you shouldn’t trust anyone who uses cryptic language. The “elephant in the room”? Say what you mean. This is the land of Roll Tide after all.

    Nonetheless, the commentary regarding blacks being responsible for a majority of the violent crime is leading to something that is always being left unsaid. Are you making suggestions here as to isolate, remove, or even eliminate them? I do not mince my words, and I respect others that do not either (I do not have to agree with their views, but I can still respect their honesty). What is your “solution” to the black problem?

    1. The “black problem”? Really? And you are serious too. After that answer maybe we could also discuss the “white problem” as well for a more complete solution to the ills of society as a whole.

  6. Someone saying they are from a suburb does not change the violence in Birimngham or in that suburb. The purpose of suburbs is to insulate people from the issues of the urban area. Yes, violence can happen anywhere, but look at the actual statistics. Does violence happen at a greater rate in the city of Birmingham vs. suburbs? Yes, it does.

    This column has been used to push an agenda that consolidation of cities or city services is needed to grow Birmingham. I have pushed back on that idea and have suggested the city or Birmingham and suburbs should examine why the suburbs were created in the first. Are the same issues present that were at the root of “white flight”? Are our communities safe? I have suggested that those issues should be addressed before considering a discussion of combining any municipalities.

    Unfortunately I think most are affraid to discuss the WHY? Why did white flight happen? Why is Birmingham unsafe? Why did Mr. Sher choose to move out of Birmingham? Why do parents not want their kids in Birmingham City Schools?

    We, as metro Birmingham residents, can’t address the problem because we are affraid to even discuss the root cause of these issues. I swear a problem solving session with a good leader through something like “The 5 Whys” would greatly benefit the metro area.

    1. Sir, the root of white flight was white racism. Pure and simple. There was no raging crime problem in the 60s in Birmingham. There was no schooling problem either because white Birmingham residents went to exclusively white schools that horded resources and the best teachers and facilities. This is a fact. When threatened with integration and the possibility of having to actually share those schools with black children and live in proximity to black families whites fled to the new suburbs in droves. Only then did the tax base for services and schools decline, only then did blight become an issue in those now emptying out neighborhoods. You can try to whitewash the true history but you will fail. White racism was at the root of white flight, pure and simple.

  7. I’m a white, evangelical, conservative Republican. For 17 years I taught predominately inner-city black kids at Restoration Academy (RA) in Fairfield. My wife used to tell me my blood ran black, and I loved those kids more than my own grandkids. I came to realize that they were just like my own kids, except for the violence they lived with. I would hear stories that were foreign to my over-the-mountain culture. Before Christmas of my first year teaching, a girl told of her 3-year-old cousin who had been shot dead in her crib by a stray bullet. Another time, a mom came in for a parent-teacher conference. I said: “Your son wasn’t in school today. Is he sick or something?” She said: “No, his uncle was killed last night and we kept him home to break the news to him.” If I’d heard that from a neighbor where we lived, I would have asked – car wreck? But in Fairfield I had learned to ask a different question: “Shot?” “Four times, he was DOA.”

    You can Google “2023 Birmingham Homicide Map” to see the homicides are spread across north Birmingham from Midfield to Centerpoint. There is only one answer:

    2 Chronicles 7:14
    if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

    Tarrant City has the highest violent-crime rate in the Birmingham Metro area. A church building in Tarrant became available due to white flight. Brandon Knight, a Bible teacher at RA, left the security of his RA job to take the vacant church building in Tarrant and plant Victory City Birmingham, which is Southern Baptist. Brandon has 15 kids from the neighborhood coming to their church every Wednesday night and Sunday morning, and the best part – those kids are coming on their own, not being dragged to church by their parents. Brandon wants to start a private Christian school similar to RA, but all of that takes financial support that Tarrant residents cannot provide (28.6% live in poverty). If anyone wants to do something about “the black problem,” Victory City would be a good place to start.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *