John Hume Was Half-Right About Bloody Sunday
Many people today feel detached from the events of Bloody Sunday in 1972. For younger generations, it is a distant tragedy — they were not born yet, do not live in Derry or the Bogside, and half a century has passed since. Yet, for the families of those who died, the memory remains vivid and painful.
The recent acquittal of Soldier F on all murder charges struck deeply. It took fifty-three years for any British soldier to stand trial for that day, and when he did, the court found him not guilty. To those who lost loved ones, the verdict only deepened their distress.
“Many people down there feel now it’s a united Ireland or nothing. Alienation is pretty total.” — John Hume, to an Irish Times journalist after Bloody Sunday
John Hume’s words held part truth. Time proved him mistaken about imminent reunification, for there is still no united Ireland. Yet he foresaw the lasting alienation. After the verdict, victims’ relatives expressed only disgust. The iconic Free Derry mural now reads, “There is no British justice.”
It seems almost unbelievable that after the killings in Ballymurphy, members of the Parachute Regiment entered the Bogside and shot thirteen people dead, with a fourteenth victim dying later. The then Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling, claimed the British army had “come under fire,” a statement many saw as an attempt to justify the unjustifiable.
Author’s Summary
The piece reflects on the enduring pain of Bloody Sunday’s victims’ families and John Hume’s prescient observation about alienation amid a still-divided Ireland.