REEL SOUTH

- I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.

Some very, very good friends of mine were killed by bombs, bombs that were planted by racists.

I remember it from the time I was very small.

I remember the sounds of bombs exploding across the street, our house shaking.

- The bombers would come up here, up the hill in a decommissioned police car.

Many times, the police were clansmen as well and they would lay their robes on the back shelf of the car just for intimidation purposes.

It was commonplace to live in terror.

I don't know how I could better explain that.

Gunpowder and concrete dust has a distinctive odor.

When I talk about it with my friends from Vietnam, they say, this sounds like war.

That's the way war smelled.

[calm music]