Today has been not only full of intense education and information, but also full of different emotions. City Walls Tour, Bogside History Tour, and the Museum of Free Derry with guides who are greatly affected by the event Bloody Sunday touched my heart. When Gerry during the City Walls tour mentioned that his father was killed during the Bloody Sunday, I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe the fact that he wasn't crying, which made me realize that he was a strong man. Also, going to and stepping on places that actually held the events gave me mixed feelings, good and bad; good as in I got to understand and feel more about the events, but bad as in I was horrified by the brutal actions that happened. Maybe that's why today was a quiet day for everyone not because we were tired, but because we needed some time to accept all the emotions that were going through us and absorb intense information.
Before going into the learning aspect of today, I want to mention a letter that I saw at the Museum of Free Derry. This letter was written by the head of UVF, Ulster Volunteer Force, on February 1, 1979 to the parents of the victim, James Wray (22) who was shot twice just in Glenfada Park on Bloody Sunday; the first bullet travelled from right to left across his body and the second bullet entered his back and travelled from right to left. Not only I was surprised, but also I was shocked and horrified by how awful and inhumane this letter was. I can't even explain using the known words how terrible this letter was.
The fight between the Protestants and Catholics reminds me of North and South Korea even though religion was not the reason why we were divided in the first place – we are in the same place, but we are not at the same time because we can’t be the same people…
The battle of Bogside lasted for three days from August 12th to 14th in 1969 in the Bogside area of Derry. Catholics of the Bogside took the streets to confront the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in a wake of the Protestant Apprentice Boys parade in the city. These riots were known as 'Battle of the Bogside,' and as a result, over 1,000 people got injured, but no one was killed. The violence got too extreme that Prime Minister Howard Wilson in the British Government decided to send in British soldiers to Derry.
The RUC began to use firearms; two rioters were shot and injured in Great James’ Street. The B-specials, an auxillary, mostly Protestant police force that’s feared by Catholics for their role in killing in the 1920s, were sent to Derry, and this provoked fears of a massacre on the part of the Bogsiders.
Bogside is a Catholic-dominated area of Derry just outside the city walls. What I don’t understand is that was it necessary to step into your enemy’s territory to make them mad like how about 12,000 Protestant Apprentice Boys did, marching close to the Bogside perimeter?
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jun/15/bloody-sunday-report-victims
http://irishrepublican.weebly.com/battle-of-the-bogside.html
Before going into the learning aspect of today, I want to mention a letter that I saw at the Museum of Free Derry. This letter was written by the head of UVF, Ulster Volunteer Force, on February 1, 1979 to the parents of the victim, James Wray (22) who was shot twice just in Glenfada Park on Bloody Sunday; the first bullet travelled from right to left across his body and the second bullet entered his back and travelled from right to left. Not only I was surprised, but also I was shocked and horrified by how awful and inhumane this letter was. I can't even explain using the known words how terrible this letter was.
The fight between the Protestants and Catholics reminds me of North and South Korea even though religion was not the reason why we were divided in the first place – we are in the same place, but we are not at the same time because we can’t be the same people…
The battle of Bogside lasted for three days from August 12th to 14th in 1969 in the Bogside area of Derry. Catholics of the Bogside took the streets to confront the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in a wake of the Protestant Apprentice Boys parade in the city. These riots were known as 'Battle of the Bogside,' and as a result, over 1,000 people got injured, but no one was killed. The violence got too extreme that Prime Minister Howard Wilson in the British Government decided to send in British soldiers to Derry.
The RUC began to use firearms; two rioters were shot and injured in Great James’ Street. The B-specials, an auxillary, mostly Protestant police force that’s feared by Catholics for their role in killing in the 1920s, were sent to Derry, and this provoked fears of a massacre on the part of the Bogsiders.
Bogside is a Catholic-dominated area of Derry just outside the city walls. What I don’t understand is that was it necessary to step into your enemy’s territory to make them mad like how about 12,000 Protestant Apprentice Boys did, marching close to the Bogside perimeter?
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jun/15/bloody-sunday-report-victims
http://irishrepublican.weebly.com/battle-of-the-bogside.html