Alan McBride's Story

The front worksheet from a packet used to introduce students to the story of Alan McBride.

Facing History's Karen Murphy introduced us to the story of Alan McBride, and we have been teaching about him as long as we have been teaching about Northern Ireland. McBride is a Protestant whose wife was killed in the Shankill Road bombing in 1993. After working through the resulting anger and sadness, McBride dedicated his life to causes that support victims and family members of victims from both sides of the Troubles.

Here is what Facing History has to say about McBride and his work today:

"Today, McBride is a director of the North Belfast WAVE Trauma Centre and a board member for Healing Through Remembering, a nonsectarian organization dedicated to facing the past and finding a way for Northern Irish people to live together in light of what happened, not in spite of it. Despite all of McBride's work and his activism, he does not believe that he should forgive (bomber) Sean Kelly, or that he needs to."

Unlike the South African Truth-and-Reconciliation idea, where political justifications were a requirement for amnesty, McBride expresses the idea that apologies need to come without a "but you must understand." 

"I don't have to understand anything," he says of the bombing. "It was wrong."

Some of McBride's work with the WAVE Trauma Centre can be seen in the 2004 Showtime documentary What's Going On: Breaking the Cycle of Violence in Northern Ireland, narrated by Meg Ryan, which is available through Social Studies School Service. The documentary focuses especially on Protestant and Catholic youth, and on early 21st century attempts at neighborhood and educational integration in Belfast.

We are honored to say that--thanks to our Fund for Teachers grant--we will be meeting with McBride at the WAVE Trauma Centre in August.