"That tall reddish building to the left is where they're holding the Bloody Sunday Enquiry," Jillian told us. Seeing the door open, we wandered inside and learned that in fact, the enquiry was open to the public; we need only check our cameras at the door and we could go right in and observe.

Imagine being able to walk in and view a reopening of the Kennedy assassination case. For the first time we found the history we had been reading on placards and exploring in touristy museums to actually being played out before us, live.

The interior of the building was enormous, with a huge wall of stained glass depicting town history, and an incredible pipe organ filling the breadth and height of the far end. We sat in a balcony two stories up, where we could look down on the proceedings, or view it on one of the large flatscreen panels hung from the ceiling. The main floor was celled with desks of lawyers and reporters. Every desk held a pair of flat LCD panels, one for a computer and the other to view the materials being discussed. On our left was a raised desk at which the witness sat, a computer screen also at his side as he related the events as he remembered them from that day.

The original investigation into the events of Bloody Sunday had been a "whitewash" and had ignored evidence and witness testamonies. The intent of this re-opened enquiry is to obtain more factual, less biased understanding of exactly what happened. We can hope that the distance of time will assist in ensuring historical accuracy takes priority over political expediency.

   
 
Copyright (C) 2002 Bryce W. Harrington