[zudomiriku]

Hillsborough, 25 Years On: Exposure Keeps Growing and Justice Is Coming



The events of April 15, 1989, are firmly and indelibly etched in the minds of anybody and everybody associated with Liverpool Football Club.

Even those—players, young supporters, families, new managers—who had no particular connection with the club at the time of the Hillsborough disaster are well aware of the circumstances surrounding that day, the 96 people who died and the ongoing fight for justice from the families of those who died.

It has been a long, bitter and—for far too many years—fruitless struggle for those involved in the search for truth and accountability from those involved, but, finally, slowly, the past couple of anniversaries have come with hope.

Hope that not only will the ignorant be educated, the scornful put to shame and the lessons of the past learnt, but also that those who were in the wrong and then later, awfully, tried so hard to cover up their errors would face justice.

Year on year, the appeals, the chants and the calls for justice would continue, but only relatively recently (compared to the 25 years since the disaster occurred) have those in power been seen to do anything of note about it.

Now, a quarter of a century after Hillsborough happened, the families and the club itself continue to move toward finding out the whole truth, and thus finding peace, when, in the end, those at fault are brought to justice.

And it seems now that it will happen.

Time is the great healer, but time also brings something else: progression.

In this instance, progression of technology and the advent of social media. Take Hillsborough; if the new enquiry had occurred 10 years ago—still over a decade too late, of course—would there be widespread coverage of it? Would tens of thousands of fans in dozens of countries all over the world unite in spreading the same message of seeking the answers which have evaded the families for so long?

Would the Prime Minister's speech, his apology to the families for their double injustice, have resonated so widely across the footballing world?

Would clubs from all reaches of the game show such solidarity, which, crucially, could be seen by everybody even if they were not even remotely connected to the country the club played in?

FC Barcelona ✔
@FCBarcelona
25 years have passed since the Hillsborough tragedy. @FCBarcelona remembers the 96 @LFC supporters died #YNWA

Everton ✔
@Everton
#MerseysideUnited

Sheffield FC
@Sheffieldfc
We will always remember them, we will #neverforget #jft96 #hillsborough

Olympiacos FC
@olympiacos_org
Gone but not Forgotten 21+96 @LFC Always remembered, always loved. #YNWA #Liverpool #Olympiacos #Together

AS Roma ✔
@OfficialASRoma
L'@OfficialASRoma è vicina alle famiglie dei 96 tifosi del @LFC che persero la vita a Hillsborough il 15 aprile del 1989 #NeverForgotten

mephobia
@mephobia8
Ajax supporters did not forget Hillsborough today.

Bleacher Report UK ✔
@br_uk
Olivier Giroud celebrated his goal by kissing the HIllsborough armband and pointing upward. (via @TSBible)

Unlikely.

But of course, perhaps that's the point as well; it wouldn't have happened then in part because there was not enough of a single, demanding voice which could not be stopped, silenced, ignored.

Now, though, we all see, we all read, we all know.

There is no hiding place left, there is no opportunity to bury heads in the ground and wait for the storm to pass.

The exposure given to the Hillsborough memorial service at Anfield, the coverage from mainstream media interviewing former players, people who were at the semi-final match in '89, people who lost family members—all of it continues to increase, year on year.



It's not because it's a topical news item—though it is one, clearly—nor because of a lack of other news.

It's because the outrage is the same from every corner: This has gone on too long.

But no longer for an unspecified amount of time. No longer is there no end in sight. The investigations continue, more names are called to question, and more uncomfortable, fabricated or forgotten answers are demanded.

The exposure keeps growing, and there is no place to hide.

Justice is coming for the 96 and their families.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2030495-hillsborough-25-years-on-exposure-keeps-growing-and-justice-is-coming